Sora meets Big Hero 6
by Iscreamer1
Summary: Ten years after Kingdom Hearts II, Sora, Donald and Goofy meet Hiro Hamada, whose life has been catapulted at the mercy of the notorious Big Boy Caprice and the all powerful Sandman. With the help of an inflatable robot named Baymax, his closest friends, Sora, detective Dick Tracy, Ultimate Spider-Man and his team of rookies, they band together as "Big Hero 6" to solve the mystery.
1. Prologue: A Trip to San Fransokyo

Fourteen year old Sora lived on the white sandy beaches of the great Destiny Islands with Riku, who was his rival and Kairi, who was his girlfriend. All three were great friends; they played on the island in the mornings, in the noon they did sword fights (with wooden ones of course) and in the sunset they would sit by the old paopu tree and discuss about visiting other places, hoping that one day, they would be lifted out of their grey existence on that small island with nothing in front of them but an ocean.

One night, while preparing a raft that would take them out to sea, a dark hurricane whirled the island to smithereens before consuming it entirely and scattering its inhabitants in different locations. Sora felt as if he were going up in a balloon until he landed with a soft crash in the alleyway of a sunless Victorian village called Traverse Town. There he met a wizard of a duck named Donald Duck and a funny dog in shining armor called Goofy Goof, whom like Sora, were searching for their master King Mickey Mouse, the ruling sovereign of a kingdom called Disney Town who had disappeared while negotiating the affairs of several stars that blinked out in a Zodiac pattern. Having also gained the experience of the Keyblade, a legendary weapon that could seal and unlock the core of worlds, Sora decided to tag along; hoping that the duck and dog would take him to Riku and Kairi.

Ignoring the negative traits of his newfound friends and the threats of his newly formed enemies that controlled the mysterious beings of dark and shadow known as the "Heartless", Sora had taken off a two-year adventure; travelling to many planet-like worlds and a fortress of white and silver in hopes that those who lived there had seen Riku, Kairi or the little mouse king. Piece-by-piece, Sora found out that he was a religious savior and a balance to restore the universe needed to save those who were related to him in spirit, blood and kinship.

Across the galaxy, travelling amongst a great war between 7 brightnesses and 13 darknesses, Sora, the King, his discovered family and new friends fought bravely against the forces of the wicked sorceress Maleficent and the corrupted elder Master Xehanort, who wanted to use Kingdom Hearts, the universe's epicenter, to reshape the worlds in his own image and rule over them like a god. With the combined strength of the seven lights, Sora finally gave Master Xehanort his just reward, putting an end to the insane man and creating a new life of a less strict enforcement in the universe.

With no Heartless, no Nobodies, no Unversed or any Dream Eaters to derail them, Sora was happy to have retired in a universe at peace. But one could only imagine that he still liked to visit other worlds with Goofy and Donald for both business and pleasurable purposes a decade later. Now twenty six years old, Sora and his two sidekicks travelled to another set of unexplored worlds, sharing the history of the Keyblade, the schematics of the worlds they had previously encountered and the story of how they came to be.

It was the start of a new exploitation tour and in their Gummi Spaceship; Donald had selected their upcoming destination on a navigational GPS map of the universe. The intended location was San Fransokyo, a high tech metropolis that lay nestled on the banks of America's west coast of California, but Japanese democrats were in fifty percent control of the city's government and economic system as their own way of making amends for all the wrongdoings that occurred between the two countries, including the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. As a result of this peace treaty, the culture, cuisine, architecture and stamina of San Fransokyo was a hybrid of eastern and western influences: Traditional lamps hung with neon colored light bulbs and trolleys, helium inflated airships sponsored digital media, advertising billboards were shown in the form of jumbotrons, bridges were grand and scaled in the superiority of art, the music was a colorful tapestry of the sounds of shamisens intertwined with jazz, and food was lovingly prepared in quaint little restaurants both cooked the long way or the short way. It truly was a fast paced city, and perhaps, a nice place to live as well.

Abiding the former laws of the universe that stated no interference with the affairs of other worlds, Donald landed the Gummi ship at a small pier littered with fishing boats and private yachts, making it look as though they had come off the tourist boat that was docked nearby. The Gummi ship had recently been fitted with an inflatable raft to keep it from sinking in any form of water. Donald was the first to exit the ship, followed by Goofy and Sora through the windshield that also acted a door for passengers. As they walked down the lonely pier, greeting a couple of fishmongers as they walked past, the adventurous trio did not know what lay in store for them in the events that were yet to come.

Like many other worlds and planets that Sora had visited on his travels, San Fransokyo had its heroes: one famous, one not-so-famous. And one of these heroes that Sora was about to meet (the famous one) was a man whose mind as fast as machine gun fire, and a hide as tough as a bullet proof vest. A detective on the police force, no doubt. Despite all odds his objective was to crack every case that came his way, and bring the riff raff to justice. Beneath that trench coat of his was a real law enforcement machine with a soft spot for society's weak, vulnerable, and innocent. Physically he was about 31 years old with dark hair, dark eyes, a hawk-like nose, a square jaw and wore a black suit with black boots, a red and black striped necktie, a bright yellow trench coat and a matching fedora with a black band around it. His name was...

Dick Tracy and he was San Fransokyo's number one crime fighter until that fateful day when his detective skills were superseded by the heroics of the superhero group, Big Hero 6. And this is how it all began:

Dick Tracy and those connected to him-his friends, family and foes-were the kind of people that reminded the citizens of San Fransokyo (especially its seniors) of the city's rich and brightly colored past, dating all the way back to the 1930s and 40s when the city didn't have too many tall skyscrapers. A prosperous, yet razzy time of gang wars, hoodlums, prohibition, tommy guns and a clue that would lead to the villain at the very last minute. But that was almost a century ago and the city had completely moved on, channeling the power of science and weapons industry into the full scale production of cybernetics and automatons, more commonly referred to as robots.

Since the rise of the science fiction classics of the 1980s, such as _The Last Starfighter_, _Starchaser; The Legend of Orion _as well as the novel _Ender's Game_ by Orson Scott Card; robots have played a crucial role to modern human history in the field of industrial labor and artificial intelligence programming and there were hardly any of them to be served as a friend or a companion to another human being. Even if a young child wanted somebody to play with, regardless of whom that playmate would look like. But that was about to change.

Anyway, Sora, Donald and Goofy made their first stop at the Fletcher-Collins Bank (which was across the street from the bay) to pick up a loan from Donald's multi-billionaire uncle, Scrooge McDuck who had been informed about the tour. The loan was in a sealed white envelope containing $1000 in cash, which would seem like enough to finance the trio for how long their trip was going to be. On the other hand, the trio did not notice a police van in black that had been parked in front of the bank with its rear doors open.

As Sora turned to face the doors, they swung open as though they were alive, but Sora wasn't the type of person to believe that the supernatural was a threat to the physical world. Fortunately, he sidestepped just in time as a figure that appeared to be a midget in an old straw hat and a mustard yellow suit came soaring out the building as fast as a quail and landed chin first against the steel floor of the paddy wagon, followed by a larger figure, this time a muscular blonde haired woman who appeared to be about a size 22 and wore a flower hat with a red silk dress who slammed her face against the wall of the van that connected to the cab, nearly crushing the poor dwarf as she groaned in exhaustion.

Although he was said to be naïve, Sora and his two friends did not understand what happened until two more figures came from the door, a dark haired beat cop with none other than Dick Tracy by his left hand side.

"Take them away, Officer Mulligan," Tracy ordered the officer. As Officer Mulligan went to close the doors, Tracy noticed something that was touching his left foot; he looked down and saw a large St. Bernard dog resting his head against the boot, whimpering and nodding up and down in need of comfort.

Tracy turned back to Officer Mulligan. "And make sure the dog gets plenty of food and water before he gets sent to pound to find an honest owner," he added.

"Right, Tracy."

With another case solved, (a petty one for that matter) Tracy walked confidently down the steps of the bank and looked to see Sora, Donald and Goofy smiling at him. The spiky haired brunette had climbed over the railing to let him by and was waving his left hand with a nervous smile.

"Hi," he greeted.

Tracy said nothing. Instead, he greeted the trio with a tip of his fedora and set off on foot down the long street and back to the police station where his superior Chief Jim Brandon was waiting. As he walked his way around the corner, Tracy thought back on the newcomers he met three minutes ago. In all the times he had lived in San Fransokyo, he had never seen a spiky haired brunette, a dog and a duck before wearing clothes and could speak like humans. As though it were an archetype, a living museum or a dress code, anyone of Japanese heritage were all modern in fashion and style while everyone he knew on his side of the city who had an American heritage were all vintage and quite out of date. Up ahead, Tracy saw the parked police squad cars coming into view and he knew that the station was not too far ahead.

Inside his office, Jim Brandon, Tracy's boss, mentor and father figure was reading the funnies section on the morning tabloid of the _Daily San Fransokyo Tribune_. He appeared to be in his mid-sixties with a bald set of grey hair, a slightly heavy set body, a pointed nose and wore the typical uniform of a police chief. His white topped cap sat on his desk next to a digital clock that Brandon was using to count how long it would take for Tracy to get to a crime in progress and back again in a matter of five minutes.

"He's bound to be seven minutes late," thought the chief as he continued to read the comic strips. But just then, the door down the hallway came open and Tracy jogged his way into the open office while trying to catch a few whiffs of his breath.

"Sorry I'm late, chief," Tracy apologized. "Took a lot longer than I expected." Tracy looked at the digital clock; it read 6:59 AM before it changed to seven o'clock. "I see you have been counting the minutes," he added.

Chief Brandon put the newspaper down and shot a strict glare into Tracy's eyes, not looking very pleased for what he had to say. "Tracy, I have been counting how many _seconds_ it would take for you to get to the Jerome Trohs and Mama case and back in 70 seconds,"

He pointed to a police map of San Fransokyo, which was littered with X's and circles drawn in a maroon color showing how many crimes took place over the last month and a half. "I am sure you haven't forgotten our motto."

Tracy directed his eyes at the bottom of the map and saw the city slogan; it was a quote by Eric Burdon in Japanese. "_San Fransokyo no machi to hitobito ni, dare ga sore o shiranai kamo shirenaiga, karera wa utsukushīdesunode, jibun-tachi no machidesu._"

"Translation?"

"To the city and people of San Fransokyo, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so is their city."

Tracy was very fluent in Japanese, being the city's secondary language next to English. As a matter of fact, he would use his knowledge of Japanese to communicate well with non-English speaking citizens, no matter what country they came from. Chief Brandon, however, wasn't a very patient man, but he always controlled himself whenever things got to the point.

"Tracy, weren't you supposed to be at breakfast with Tess this morning?"

Tracy nearly forgot, but he just bluffed it off with a tease. "And I think you are trying to get under her skin, eh?"

Chief Brandon blushed. Given his age, he wasn't exactly the ladies man he used to be anymore. It was also because of his age that he was to be taken out of service by the next year. His red cheeks soon faded as Tracy brought up the subject of Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Also, after I had Jerome's dog Tip sent to the pound," Tracy explained. "I seemed to have met some foreigners: a spiky haired brunette with a silver pendant, a duck with a sailor suit and a dog in a green hat. If they're not from around here, I should say a little custom inspection might be in order."

"Unlike what happened the last time with Boris and Zora Arson," the chief muttered. Brandon could remember back to the day when two Russian siblings named Arson had illegally entered the country to plant nitro glycerin in six banks and rob them before the authorities could react, a crime that been prevented by a Native American named Chief Yellowpony who tracked them to their hideout in the mountains.

Before he could say anymore, the faint sound of tires screeching was heard in the distance. Believing it to be a getaway car in the midst of a shooting in progress, Brandon got up from his chair and he and Tracy looked out the right side window to see a light blue Cadillac Escalade zooming past the police station as if the driver was drunk out of his mind and ran past a stop sign before it slowed down, then sped up again.

"What the hell was that?!" asked Chief Brandon as the car sped away.

With his keen mind, Tracy carefully studied the details of the car and was able to make out the license plate number ABC-931. He knew who it was.

"That," Tracy said to the chief. "Got out of prison two years ago and is a problem... Alphonse 'Big Boy' Caprice. The murderer of my father-in-law Emil Trueheart, the kidnapper of my then wife-to-be Tess and the reason I became dedicated to fighting crime in San Fransokyo. From what the online reports have told us, Big Boy appears to have gone straight, but since he hasn't been active recently, I am beginning to think that he might be planning revenge on me for ruining his criminal empire."

"And he still had to be stopped," the chief concluded. "If it hadn't been for Big Boy, you wouldn't be here right now," Tracy couldn't image having any other job than a crime fighter or even a clerk at a delicatessen store.

Chief Brandon checked the clock, put his cap on his head and walked over to the coat rack by the door where he put on his dark blue overcoat. "If you need me, I will be at the diner having hot soup for breakfast, Tess and Toby will be there and Junior should be on his way to school right now,"

Tracy walked him over to the door before the chief turned back to face him. "But if you want to know something, Tracy, you can't prevent any crime from happening. If you're lucky enough, you will, but remember what I said about taking time to settle down, because one of these days...we may need another hero."

Tracy's face turned conceited, but secretly he worried about being replaced, even if he was a good man and a great investigator with five and a half years of experience on his record. After Chief Brandon had left the building, Tracy waited for moment or two before he decided to take the plunge and leave the office with a content smile that was looking forward to a brand new day.


	2. Meet Hiro Hamada

On the other side of town, in a two story Victorian house off the corner of Haight St and Masonic Avenue was the home of Hiro Hamada. He was fourteen years old, with a thin body structure, smooth cheeks, slanted eyelids with short lashes and nappy black hair that contrasted with his hazel colored eyes. He was often seen wearing long beige shorts, black trainers with orange-yellow laces in a perfectly neat tie, a dark blue-purple hoodie with a zipper, and a red shirt depicting a boxy toyetic version of a robot with a white long john undershirt that extended from underneath the red top.

Born to Tomeo and Maemi Hamada (maiden name Takachiho) on the top floor of the general hospital in 2018, Hiro had been destined to be one of the most hopeful figures in the age of progress and technology, as demonstrated when he proved a theorem that no mathematician could do around the age of four, which placed him in pre-school two years earlier for early signs of advanced intelligence. He had already spoken his very first word (his own name) on his first birthday and he made a two story toy home when he was three, using over seventeen building blocks from a Duplo set in four different colors of red, green, blue and yellow, but the theorem was absolute evidence that he was, of all other individuals, a child prodigy with an IQ of 155.

Unfortunately, by the time he turned four years old, his parents did not live to see the result of what he would become. On their way home from an anniversary dinner, their car suffered a head-on collision with the vehicle driven by an ex-boxer turned stick-up artist named Pinkie the Stabber, whom during his first theft of stealing essential boxing equipment, would later go down in history as Dick Tracy's first caught criminal. All of this had taken place about a month before the theorem and it was agreed by Judge Garrity that Hiro would stay with Tomeo's younger sister Cassandra Hamada at her tea and coffee house on Haight St. There, he treated his aunt like a princess (she treated him back like a prince), spent his days working on something to build and loved his older brother more than anything in the world.

His name was Tadashi, who shared his father's brown eyes and black hair (but more flat unlike Hiro's), and was more muscular and more athletic than the younger. The boys were seven years apart by six months, three days, two hours and one single minute. Tadashi had loved Hiro ever since he came out of his mother's womb and was dedicated to bringing him upright in the straight and righteous path to becoming the greatest inventor in the world since Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs. However, three other boys from Hiro's school, by the names of Sam, Kano and Gaisa, saw the young prodigy as nothing more than an "Asian braggart" who needed to be taught a lesson by the most vicious act of physical violence: bullying. During recess, under the promise of a conversation about his intelligence, they brought Hiro over to a clearing that was ten feet away from the playground, then kicked him in the shin and knocked him to his knees until he was lying face down on the ground, disoriented by the mental torturing jeers of "You're an eyesore!" and "Just because you're a bit smart, DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN BE FULL OF YOURSELF! _**ASIAN!**_"

Tadashi had seen everything, and he successfully put a stop to Hiro's beating by rushing over to his baby brother's aid, tackling Kano to the brown earth and threatening to the other boys that if they ever abused Hiro again, he would report all of their responsible actions to the authorities. Behaved, Sam, Kano and Gaisa left Tadashi to his brother and took him home, where he clotted a strong injury from Hiro's left forearm with a cotton pad held by medical pincers. This proved to be a very difficult operation for Hiro, who was nearly in tears by the time his treatment was finished. As a reward for trying to stand up like a real man, Tadashi gave Hiro a cherry flavored lollipop that developed a branch in his sweet tooth; in fact, his favorite candies were nothing but lollipops and gummy bears.

Over the next ten years, Tadashi and Aunt Cass became very sociable to at least half of the city's population and more well-known citizens while Hiro became a shut-in who did not want to have anything to do with people he could not trust. Sam, Kano and Gaisa's attack had left a legacy of emotional scars and a series of cruel mockery and envy towards the young genius: Whenever Hiro was paired with another kid who was just about as smart as him; the jealous student would leave him with three options.

1. Ignore him and just move on.

2. Insult him for his race.

3. Beat him to a pulp.

Hiro mostly received numbers three and two out of all the said choices of how to handle a person that you didn't like, and while filling himself with shame (especially since the school principle could not look into the situations he suffered due to misplaced blames from jealous students), he decided to take action against his abusers by creating battle robots that would threaten anyone who mocked his genius. When Hiro turned eight, an insensitive boy who looked a lot older than him tried to feed him a disgusting display of "brain food "(actually a piece of raw chopped liver from boar meat that he bought from a slaughterhouse) and continued to harass Hiro by forcing him to eat the liver until the young genius flipped the table with great strength and seethed a vicious tongue lashing into the male's face.

"Do it again and my battle bots will turn your fingers into pretzels!"

But through all the fights and acts of violence that Hiro committed to defend himself against his tormentors, he still remained a cheerful and happy child, mostly at times when he and Tadashi would invent something like a daruma doll that could sprout a sunflower with a smiling face, a duck blower that produced disinfectant bubbles, a ride on a rocket propelled "airplane", a pen that created clouds of animals and insects, some cardboard robots and even a jet-powered fork when Hiro refused to eat carrots, thinking that they did not agree with his tasting buds.

Ever since the day he and Tadashi were adopted, Hiro also had a journal to record his inventions and personal life moments but he did not contemplate on the secondary purpose of his journal as a diary or a scrapbook. Instead, it was a mixture of auto-biography that contained photographs (taken by himself), sketches, items, trinkets and notes of his experiences in life and research. He believed that the usage of social networking websites-like Facebook, Twitter and ScienceStage-was too much unnecessary exposure to be seen by the entire world as if they could read other people's information, opinions, personalities, goals and ideas to steal and exploit them for their own reasons. No, Hiro and Tadashi preferred the old fashioned way of socializing, something that traditionalists would agree on in terms of decency. After all, what would happen to their online accounts when it was time to die? It is considerably wise in both positive and negative agreements that some evidence should die along with the person that keeps the mystery of the information that may serve as the answer to almost anything in the universe, which is often the reason why certain people are killed or humiliated for containing such immoral secrets.

Anyways, the very first inspiration that sparked Hiro's muse for inventing came in the form of a Japanese bobtail cat named Mochi, who had been living with them since adoption day. Cass thought that the boys needed an extra playmate, so she went to a pet store and found a newborn bobtail, named him Mochi for his charismatic and adorable features, and, as soon as she got home, took the picture of Hiro hugging the cat very tightly with a big grin that was lacking a right central incisor from the four year old's mouth.

After losing that first baby tooth from an apple, Cass and Tadashi felt that Hiro had a mild case of autism. They gave him lisdexamfetamine (or vyvanse) to suppress the rapid mood swings he would have later on in life as well as not thinking very clearly. Fearing an overdose, Hiro stopped taking the medication when he turned eleven, thinking that he was officially mature enough to control his emotions, but became more natural in effect. Over the next three years, he proved to be very hot headed, overconfident and impulsive enough to achieve the well-established bias of a large ego. Therefore, deriving himself from the stereotypical nature and mannerisms of an ideal nerd, like speaking intellectually or not doing any sort of rebellious motivations that were very common in the personalities of children around his age. No, Hiro was the polar opposite of all stereotypical dorks that could be seen in fiction and fantasy; a type of genius that could spend some time just being a kid and doing all of those things that no one else could do, like bot-fighting; an extremely illegal tribute to blood sports using robots instead of animals like cockerels or bulls for gambling purposes. The reason behind the illegality of bot-fighting was that the necessity of robots and their destruction at hands of royalty hungry gamblers was too much of a loss for the labor union, starting with taxes and lawsuits against all acts of robotic combat before it became a sport that only the criminal underworld could be held responsible for. The violation of Isaac Asimov's rule number one of his three law of robotics, stating that "a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm", supported the fight against illegal usage of robotic combat.

Ever since Tadashi had enrolled, graduated and became a leading scientist in the prestigious San Fransokyo Institute of Technology (which earned him the status of a minor celebrity), Hiro saw little of his brother, who worked for six hours a day in a laboratory on whatever the school had to offer for the future of mankind and all of its achievements since the dawn of time. Hiro, on the other hand, was so intelligent, that he even graduated from Lowell High School at 13 years of age. Now that he was free from all the students who tortured him over how smart he was, he spent the first two months of his fourteenth year attending bot fighting tournaments since there was nothing else that he could do with his life. Finding a well-paying job was too dull and too painstaking for a kid his age and even if he could have found one, a dishwasher in his aunt's coffee house for example, the child labor laws of Japanifornia were very strict on selective employment for minors.

Not long after Sora, Donald and Goofy's arrival in the city earlier that morning, Hiro had spent the entire day planning out the next bot-fighting game that he was yet to attend. After winning four bot fights in a row, he knew that the competition was fierce but he could not let any of San Fransokyo's most notable crime bosses from the likes of Lawrence "Acey-Deucy" Doucet, Chuck "the Clipper" Brown, Joey DeSanto and so many others from the old days of organized crime (or at least their descendants) see him sweat. He had to take it very seriously, especially when the competitors were defeated by someone of his own age. So after fibbing to Aunt Cass that he was going to the library, Hiro took the 6:30 trolley down to the bot fight and set off into the bright lit evening, admiring the gleam and dazzling spectacular of the city as he anxiously waited to succeed in what would later be his fifth, and final duel.

From Hiro's perspective, his birth home of San Fransokyo was not quite a big city, nor was it a small town with only a factory to support it. Ever since it was founded on June 29, 1776, San Fransokyo (known back then as San Francisco) had been a mysterious mix of the past and the future, old and new, vintage and modern combined in revolutionary science and the heart of the city was forever locked in a past that could never change.

Throughout the nineteenth century, San Francisco was an emerald to the coast of Japanifornia (formerly California) that shone brighter than New York City or any other capitol in the United States. Civilization was not too advanced back in those days, and it brought forth a furious trade of miners in the gold rush of 1848 from the Sierra Nevada and over the next sixty-eight years, the city council and founding president of the University of San Francisco, Father Anthony Maraschi had enough profit to develop the city into a major tourist attraction of industry, color, cool summers and steep rolling hills. At nighttime, the bright skyscraper lights and neon colors that imitated the CMYK color model palette of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, softened in luster, giving the elderly Victorian pagodas and forgotten alleyways of skid row an inviting glow that was friendly and welcome to the darkness.

But, there came a day when a giant earthquake threatened to destroy the city forever. At 5:12 in the morning on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, San Francisco was wrecked and ruined by fire from ruptured gas lines that spread throughout three quarters of the city over a matter of seven days, claiming the lives of 500 people and leaving 400,000 homeless. Survivors and refuges lived in makeshift tents on the beach, while others were hard at work on the seemingly futile efforts to undo the damage and an influx of sympathetic immigrants from Japan, China, Vietnam, Siam, Korea and others from all corners of Asia immediately volunteered to rebuild the city in their own image. To ensure the survivors that such great destruction would never happen again in the future, the Asian immigrants had redesigned the buildings to withstand earthquakes and such natural disasters to a minimal amount of damage, as Japan had also suffered a myriad of giant quakes and in return, architectural companies built earthquake resistant structures to avoid a large amount of casualties. This, along with the Imperial invasion that marked the end of the Pacific Theater in 1942, completed the multiracial hybrid of American and Japanese culture of San Francisco, rechristened "San Fransokyo" in commemoration of Japan's own capitol, Tokyo. The leading members of the 1906 reconstruction group were born and raised in Tokyo, and thought of the renaming as a most valuable act of honor and respect to the beauty of their home capitol.

As Hiro walked his way to the tournament by the public transportation system of a cable trolley, he started to memorize the districts and streets that complied the great metropolis into the summarization level of a travelling brochure.

First, there was Union Square, the gateway between Uptown and Downtown. Uptown was the fast-paced world of tomorrow, which was populated by modernists who kept up with the times in terms of fashion and entertainment while Downtown was an old-world charm that was inhabited by traditionalists, the type of people in Dick Tracy's crowd who liked to wear reproductions of vintage clothing of any color from the 1940s and listened to the swing music of the 30s, reminding them of a happy time before Japanese forces had attacked and occupied Pearl Harbor and further advanced the Asian influences of San Fransokyo to a dominating degree under the reign of Emperor Hirohito. But not all of the traditionalists were prejudiced against the Asian descendants of the city from 1906, they had praised the Japanese for a distinctive taste to the downtown district with its style of opera, Kabuki theater and even synthesizer-driven techno concerts for those who grew up in the 80s.

2,000 feet above San Fransokyo, was an approximated number of twenty floating wind turbines that provided power to the city. The turbines were suspended in the air from a 1,996 foot cable attached to the ground, allowing strong breezes to flow continually from the Pacific Ocean to provide San Fransokyo with clean and renewable energy. If one was to look up at them from the ground, he or she would worry about the chances of a turbine getting destroyed by a plane, helicopter or bird; but it really did not matter, for the government had made sure that the turbines were given a safe altitude to avoid the risks of an accident.

The Marina was a food market that featured a variety of architectural styles, from Persia, to Paris, Rome, Rio, Berlin, Monte Carlo and all areas of the Middle East. The shops, in particular, sold everything from exotic teas, fresh fish, Sakuma Drops, mango, and imported vegetables from Great Britain.

The Garden District was located at the edge of Downtown. It was home to the city's high class citizens where visitors could tour the gardens of any quality and size of yard. It also contained one of the most extensive comic-book collections in the world that led to the beginning of Comic-Con in 1970. The Garden District also had parks that featured a variety of plant life, with over eighty seven species imported from Japan, including the ever notable cherry blossom, the lotus and the chrysanthemum. To commemorate the peak blooming season, a number of almost fifteen hundred visitors flocked to the city each year on the eleventh of April to attend the San Fransokyo Cherry Blossom Festival (more formally known as a _hanami_).

After a ten minute period of reminiscing, Hiro came to his destination: Ross Alley. He stepped off the tram feeling nervous, and the moment he set foot in the alley, gazed up to see the overhead light of the hardware store on his right switched on in an intense glow. He knew that a technical failure had caused itself to fix, or had simply remained off until his arrival as though the light was expecting him. In the similar fashion of a headwaiter greeting his guests into the restaurant, Hiro waited for a split second and walked into the vicinity of the alley.

Ross Alley was the holy grail of brothels, gambling houses, and opium dens to bring the men of yesteryear far from their troubles at home with the mistress and children to the forbidden fruit of lust. It had been that since the 19th century, and governor had been planning on turning it into a fortune cookie factory, but was met with little success in the crime war on bot-fighting. Unable to persuade the all-powerful criminals, the San Fransokyo Police Department conducted raids and stakeouts, doing whatever was in their power to put an end to the wastes of bot-fighting once and for all.

Surrounded by a crowd of thirty-nine people and three geishas on roller-skates called the Fujitas was Mr. Yama, the number two mob boss of San Fransokyo, and second only to his rival Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice. He wore a night-blue jumper with three lines on his sleeves that were as yellow as road markings. Physically, he had short black hair with a ponytail, thick eyebrows and was most notable for weighing about 317 pounds, the size of an average sumo wrestler. He was the number one champion of underground bot-fighting tournaments for over 15 years. To Yama, bot-fighting was a good substitute for starting a gang war with the other criminal leaders of San Fransokyo, thus avoiding bloodshed and even though the entirety of the San Fransokyo Police Department were much too smart to fall into his pocket, he always managed to succeed in his underground fights before the gambling raid parties, led by Major Crimes Unit would spread through the syndicate like cancer. Yama was proud of his name, which meant "mountain" in Japanese, for he hoped that anyone who played into his control would treat him like the mountain of his namesake, Mt. Fuji.

Yama's latest opponent was a goth punk girl named Magenta, who had hair that was dyed a purple-pink color and eyes that matched her name with exotic violet lips. On her head was a pair of goggles used by technicians for building robots and she wore the custom outfit of a black leather vest with seventeen silver pyramid studs on each side, a black nylon that could be seen underneath her transparent shirt which was ripped near the arms. Her hands were concealed by black gloves with a spike bracelet on her left arm and her belt strap was a metallic skeleton made from the melted iron of a hood ornament. She also wore cut-off shorts with striped leggings and black rock boots with laces that were held in a corset like design. Around her neck was a silver chain, a black silk chain and a dog collar with an emerald green pendant. Her bot was a dual toned killer with green eyes, a yellow star on the right side chest which was black while the other side was pump pink. Its left claw was also pink white the right claw was a baby blue color. Hooked with two cables in the back to the claws, its pink right shoulder pad bore a circle with the number 15 in black while the left shoulder pad was decorated with three pink lightning bolts against the jet black of the pad. The right leg had a half shade of pink while the black was restricted within the remainder of the leg and the left one.

Yama's bot, nicknamed "Little Yama", was a crude but impressive replica of the kabuto and mengu armor from the Kamakura period. It had a black helmet with a gold maedate and an eye that turned red with fury. The shoulder pads were streamlined in black with gold edges and the lower body was black as well. The potbellied torso of Little Yama was painted with a yellow circle with five petals of a black flower, four triangles forming a square around a real square in the very center of the rotund symbol. Its right arm was equipped with a sawblade for a hand while the left hand had three long kerambits for fingers and two short ones for thumbs.

Both bots were in gladiatorial combat, with Little Yama deflecting Magenta's robot a black shield carrying the logo on its chest plate. The right claw of the pink robot throwing a jab at Little Yama caught the black robot off-guard and responded with a counterattack to the joints then threw the pink bot down with a body slam. With his opponent down for the count, Little Yama grabbed the pink robot's right claw and threw it on its back to where Magenta pushed both thumbs on the joysticks and the fallen robot was back on its feet. A right jab from Little Yama missed his opponent, and a left uppercut from Magenta's bot sent the head torso spinning counterclockwise in a 180 direction, falling face first. Magenta smiled at what could have been a supposed victory, but her smile dropped into a frown of shock when her bot, trying to claw the fallen Little Yama with its pincers, was caught by the right hand and the left hand, changing into a sawblade, lifted itself onto the pink robot's back and slammed the sawblade into the spine, where 16 gears and four screws of all shapes flew out of the body in haze of sparks and collapsed along with the bot itself.

The leader of the Fujitas was a tough woman with an eye patch covering her left eye from a shootout six years ago and a scorpion band was held on her left arm. She wore an orange tank top with purple shorts, turquoise jeans and roller skates with red wheels. Her black hair was curled in a mixture of a French curl and an updo, which was festooned with light green hair combs in the shape of purple topped pins and some beads with a plastic flower of purple, red and yellow adorning her left forehead.

She shouted the results as she passed a white with yellow lining imari tray designed with a persimmon tree to the victor. "And the winner is, by total annihilation…YAMA!"

Defeated, Magenta retrieved what was left of her robot and stormed her way out of the alley, passing Hiro along the way. The young genius greeted her with an unnoticeable glace and waved his free left hand at the three odd ducks sitting by a table underneath an umbrella: Larceny Lu, a blond haired woman in a brown fur coat and long pearl necklace who looked as though she had been beaten with an ugly stick; Big Frost, also known as "Jack Frost" for his snow-white complexion and grey hair along with icy silver eyes, black suit and a yellow bowtie and Tulza Tuzon also known as Haf-and-Haf, for his right side was handsome with dark hair and a black suit with a red shirt while his left side looked as though it had been melted off with white hair and a yellow checker boarded suit. As a distant relative of the corrupt scientist Herbert Landon, who had similar features, he had gotten this from an automobile accident with some chemicals while he worked as a commercial truck driver who was transferring the chemicals out of state to the University of Michigan. The truck swerved from an oncoming Jaguar convertible, whose driver was drunk out of his mind after three pints of Jack Daniels, and tipped over, submerging the left half of his face with the chemicals. He had been treated afterwards by the beautiful high diver Zelda and pursued a life of crime as he settled down back in San Fransokyo with his new wife Dolly. The three criminals passed a five dollar bill to a young man who exchanged the fiver with a ten dollar bill as Hiro continued his way behind the crowd, to keep his recognition at a low level as a way of surprising the criminal underworld with his intellectual mind, he knew what he had to do as heard the large man shout at the top of his lungs: "Who's next?! Who has the guts to step into the ring with, Little Yama?!"

One of the contestants, a male Spanish-American in a red cap and midnight blue jacket, was cowered by the small menacing Little Yama. He grabbed the head of his own robot, an ice green colored bot with black spikes for hands and shoulder pads and pulled it off in an imitation of the pink robot's defeat. He could not risk any damage if he were do it himself. A woman with dark hair, chocolate brown skin and a pine green tank top seemed to agree with the man as she hid her own robot, a yellow armed bot with pincers behind her back.

From the table, Haf-and-Haf puffed on his cigarette and asked to the large man, "Why don't we hear this from Big Boy?"

An Asian man with a bald head and a wide-collared shirt named Panda, stepped to address the grotesque man.

"As we all know, Mr. Caprice does not interest in bot fights, he thinks they are too evasive."

Then he scanned the crowd on his left and right, squinting for a brave and noble face.

"Any contestants?"

A pre-pubescent voice spoke up.

"Can I try?"

The crowd of spectators turned to face the young boy with spiky black hair.

"I have a robot. I built it myself."

He extended his left hand to give the crowd a closer look at his creation Megabot: it was about twelve inches tall with six black magnetic limbs in the shape of hexagonal thimbles. Two round balls made up the torso and a yellow face with large eyes and a grin of eight teeth, creating the face of an insane smile.

The bot's size was something of an understatement to Yama, who just laughed at the perceived weakness of the fighter. He laughed so hard, that his potbellied stomach (and his testicles) shook like gel. The crowd also greeted Hiro with uproarious laughs, who just cringed and quivered like he always did, but at the same time it was partially genuine, reminding him of the boys and girls who made fun of his genius during his school years. Pushing it aside, Hiro plucked up courage.

"Hey! I'm a lot tougher than you think."

Panda and the Fujita leader were not impressed by the display.

"Beat it, kid," she snarled. "You know the house rules of Ross Alley: you gotta _pay _to play."

Hiro had heard this before, though he still kept up his naïve state of mind when he responded.

"Oh, ok."

He pulled a crumpled pile of $20 dollars from his right hand pocket.

"Is this enough?"

Yama had not heard of Hiro before due to the other bot-fighting tournaments taking place through rival gang members, to which nobody had any guts to step up to their rivals. Leering his head with a sardonic smile, Yama asked.

"What is your name, little boy?"

"Hiro, Hiro Hamada."

"Prepare your bot, Zero!"

Both competitors placed the wads of money in the tray and Hiro was able to spill four quarters of an extra dollar in tray before the Fujita leader placed the cover back on the tray. Yama placed Little Yama on the ring before Megabot, which lost its footing and slipped from the crudely placed position in-between its legs on the floor ring. Yama sat on the floor crisscrossed and so did Hiro, with his right hand on the top of his head and the left hand clutching his chin, he positioned it at a six degree tilt, causing the bones on the back of his throat to crack. Hiro tried the same, but the silence of his own bone structure led him to imitate his own way of a braking neck. His view of Yama was obstructed by the Fujita leader, who unfolded an oil-paper umbrella with black, red, white and small yellow stripes and placed it in the very center of the ring like a shield, as though she were trying to hypnotize the young boy. But instead, she twirled the umbrella and its design rotated with only the wooden structure spinning over the round striped colors.

"Two bots enter, one bot leaves! Fighters ready?!"

At her request (as he always did) Panda blew an air horn that could be heard from the rooftops and the Fujita leader sidestepped backwards out of the ring with the umbrella folded to let the battle commence as she screamed "FIGHT!" like a professional referee at a boxing match.

Little Yama sheathed his claws, and Hiro at the controls, lifted Megabot onto its feet. Megabot walked innocently towards the looming Little Yama like it was trying to tame the monster with a hug. But unfortunately, Little Yama's left clawed hand catapulted Megabot into the air at five feet and used the right hand sawblade to cut Megabot into three pieces from the bottom and the middle. The head and upper two magnetic limbs fell in front of a dismayed Hiro, who lowered himself at the downed head of his bot on his hands as Yama let out a deep chortle.

"That was my first fight," he stuttered. "Can I try again?"

"No one likes a sore loser, _shonen_," Yama taunted with a mug of mock empathy. "Go home."

As he collected the fifteen thousand clams from the imari tray, Hiro showed him a round of $20, 000 dollars from his left hoodie pocket wrapped in a paper band. Yama squinted his eyes and smiled, he had been looking forward to another bot fight with the same fighter who had already lost.

The Fujita leader repeated her phrase with the oil-paper parasol and Panda let out another blast of the air horn, this time the woman's shout was drowned out by the horn. To Yama's surprise, Megabot's pieces lined up in a straight direction and reassembled together in a magnetic connection.

The secret to Hiro's success in bot-fighting was the same, he would spend a third half of his money to study the opponent's fighting style and see how his or her robot worked before actually taking them on. He had intentionally lost the first fight because he knew that if he could get to know the patterns and tendencies of his opponent, he would know exactly how to defeat him or her in the next round. Knowing that Yama would be overconfident enough to raise his bet up to thirty thousand smackers, Hiro had his intentions to surprise the crowd with a dramatic flair.

_It's all part of my caliber._ He always said to himself.

He extended the sides of his remote control to reveal a thin blue computer screen displaying additional melee and combat skills before he uttered.

"Megabot, kill him."

Megabot's yellow face turned around to reveal a red face with glaring eyes and a wicked smile with jagged teeth. Yama was so surprised at the face that he barely had time to notice Megabot's middle arms spinning into a twister and the small battle bot ducked underneath Little Yama as the sawblade came upon his former position. It danced around and behind as Yama tried to swerve the sawblade into Megabot's lower body. Confused and dazed, he used the control sticks on his RC to spin and attack in an all about maniacal frenzy, while Hiro just sat there fiddling with his own control sticks, a smug face on his lips and his ability to have Megabot split into the three pieces made him looked bored but satisfied. His trick to catch Yama off-guard had worked.

At that moment, the three pieces climbed up Little Yama from the legs like ants, twisting the left arm off and shooting it's claws down toward the right one and with enough scooting, pushed the saw blade and the arm itself free from the wires that held it together. Reformed into a single being, Megabot slapped Little Yama's head violently, left, right and all around before it curled up like a snake and gripped Little Yama's head, hugging it until the pressure could not hold any longer and the head shot like a rocket up into the air and landed eight feet behind its collapsed body. For his victory pose after a two minute fight, Hiro controlled Megabot's devilish facade back to the yellow smiley face and lowered its upper body in a _saikeirei_.

"No more Little Yama," Hiro taunted in his imitation of Big Yama's mock sympathy. He received his winnings from the tray: a bundle of $30, 000 dollars.

Yama picked up the severed head as the golden maedate fell from the black helmet, shocked, upset and distraught that had been beaten by, of all people, a fourteen year old. This was too much of a scandal on his reputation, seeing that he had _never _in all of his fifteen years of bot-fighting, lost a match against anyone, especially a _child._ The sumo crime boss lost his temper, swearing in Japanese. "_THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!_"

He eyed the three odd ducks by the table and the three young men sitting behind him, Mordecai, Yin and Diego to take action. Panda and the Fujita leader noticed this look of rage as Hiro began to ramble.

"Hey, I'm just as surprised as you are, and that is what I call, 'beginner's luck'."

As he spoke, the crowd backed away to the very end of the ally, thinking that the police were nearby and not wanting to be in Yama's way whenever it would seem like he was going to hit the ceiling.

"All part of my caliber," Hiro chuckled to himself out loud. Then he looked up as Yama was on his feet. "So can we go again?"

But rather than a proper response (through verbal means, of course), Hiro's nostrils were being held at gunpoint by Haf-and-Haf's lupara, a twelve gauge double barreled howdah pistol, a fitting weapon of choice for someone with a two-faced exterior.

"No one hustles the boss," the bad side of Haf-and-Haf threatened in a dark voice.

Hiro tried to back away from the armed freak, but Yama was closing in on him too, shouting, "He's right you cheatin' son of a bitch! No one beats Yama and I want to know how!"

And with a swift wave of his right hand, he grabbed Megabot from Hiro's grip and instructed the three men and the three deformed crooks, "Teach him a lesson."

"Can't we just shoot him?" asked Larceny Lu, holding her H&R Model 733.

"Just beat him up," responded Yama, and he walked away in a private corner to study the inner workings of Megabot. Big Frost lowered his silver plated Smith & Wesson Model 64 and slowly moved in towards a nervous, but frightened Hiro, who was trying to make peace with Mordecai, Yin and Diego.

"Hey, fellas! Let's talk about this. I know your boss is upset, but here's what I'm gonna do: I'll teach you everything I know about high-torque micromotors. I charge an hourly rate-it's pricey, but worth it. Before you know it, you'll be making robots that aren't totally junky. First class is free!"

But he began to sweat when Yin cracked his muscles and Larceny Lu was aiming her revolver at his forehead. Just as he was about to have his "big brain" blown out by the oncoming bullet, the bright light of a red Piaggio Vespa came from the eastern corridor of the alleyway, knocking the criminals down with the front wheel and they landed pel mel on top of each other. The driver of the Vespa was a tall and slightly muscular 21 year old with black hair and brown eyes. Next to the jet black helmet with goggles that lay strapped to the top of his head, he wore a white crew neck t-shirt with the black streamlined artwork of a ninja, along with a blue-grey cardigan, a dark green sweater, brown pants rolled up around his ankles and mint-colored sneakers. He shouted, "Hiro, get on!"

Hiro knew who he was. "_Nii-san!_"

He jumped onto the back of the bike. "How did you find me? Did you follow me?!"

"Nope. When I realized that you would be going to another bot-fight, I thought I could get you out of there by installing those GPS trackers in the hood of your jacket."

Hiro frowned. "Seriously, _onii-chan_?! I can take care of myself!"

Tadashi just slammed a white helmet with a dark green stripe down the middle on Hiro's head, trying to keep up with his patience.

"Well taking care of yourself does not count it!" Tadashi scolded as he strapped the belt on.

It took Hiro a second to adjust the helmet in a straightforward direction before Tadashi, gripping the left handle bar, gunned the Vespa's engine and took off into the alley, past the hidden crowd and hoping that they would "reach the border" before the evening raid would infiltrate and dismantle the gambling operations.

Realizing that he had left Megabot behind, Hiro took out the controls from his right hoodie pocket, flipped the yellow face to red and it leapt onto Yama's face, again preforming the twister attack on his nose and forehead as he fell to the ground and whizzed back to the waiting left hand of Hiro.

As they cruised through the southern passage, Tadashi asked his brother, "Are you okay?"

Hiro nodded. "Yeah."

Tadashi kept his eyes on the road. "Are you hurt?"

"No."

Hiro kept looking back at where Yama had once stood, excitement in his thoughts of riding Tadashi's motorcycle like a spoiled prince, but Tadashi's right hand curled into a fist and he slammed into Hiro's stomach and right elbow five times over shouting, "_THEN WHAT WERE YOU THINKING,_ KUSOTTARE?!"

Hiro just kept holding on to Tadashi's shoulders, as the older Hamada saw an iron gate with a green dumpster in front of it. It was a dead end, and rather than preforming such a dangerous stunt like driving up the wall and over it, Tadashi rotated the bike in a 180 degree angle and zoomed back down the alley towards the northern passage where they would make their escape. As they drove, Tadashi shouted back, "_You graduated high school last year when you were thirteen and this is what you're doing?!"_

Before Hiro could answer, he noticed Yama and his three henchmen lumbering their way towards them, intent on throwing the Vespa's passengers off the bike with brutal force. Larceny Lu and Haf-and-Haf readied their guns and Big Frost just stood there aiming his S&W at Tadashi's forehead like a professional as Tadashi himself spotted a wooden floorboard lying sideways against a stack of ten other boards.

"Hold on!" he shouted to Hiro and he zoomed the bike's wheels up the board at full speed and brothers flew into the air at a ten foot altitude, zooming over the heads of their enemies. As they soared, Hiro looked at himself in a pan of glass windows, holding on tight to his brother's shoulders and a smiling a wild and happy grin into his reflection. Even though Tadashi was too careful for one second to look into the glass, it was a perfect, pretty honey shot in Hiro's eyes before gravity in kicked and sent the Vespa back onto the road.

Tadashi and Hiro continued to bicker in Japanese, as they always liked to do whenever it came to personal issues.

"_How many times do I have to tell you?! Bot-fighting is illegal! You are going to get yourself arrested for co-operation!_"

Hiro rolled his eyes, he had been given this lecture before, when Tadashi had caught him sneaking into the house via window after his third bot-fight. He was lucky that he didn't get into a tirade with Tadashi after his fourth fight since he was already asleep when he returned. So he tried to reason with him, by holding the $30,000 dollars from his right pants pocket.

"_Bot-fighting is _not _illegal! Betting on bot fights _are_ illegal, but it's so lucrative! I'm on a roll big brother and there is no stopping me!_"

But Hiro soon realized that he had spoken all too soon, for the flashing lights of red and blue turning into purple and the sounds of sirens resonated throughout the alley. Tadashi heard the siren and stopped the bike at the sight of a Toyota Corolla squad car parked at the entrance, his teeth clinched and his head nearly dizzy from the jump. Knowing that trying to outrun them would be fruitless, all Tadashi could say was:

"Oh _shit_."

Hiro cringed. It was rare to see his brother curse or swear in public.

Two more police cars and an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria cordoned off the entrance. The Hamada brothers exchanged glances of worry as they knew who the unmarked car belonged to. Out from the driver's seat came the bright yellow figure of Detective Dick Tracy and his trio of plainclothes detectives, known on the force as the "Crimestoppers".

Pat Patton was Tracy's first partner when he began his career on the force. Judging by his rotund face, beady eyes, auburn hair and a light Dublin accent, Hiro could easily assume that he was an Irishman. He wore a Kelly-green derby with an emerald topcoat and a yellow bowtie, matching the colors of his native land's poetic name "The Emerald Isle". Prior to his job in the Major Case Squad, he worked as a steel welder in Potrero Point and he was not very adept in his new position as a policeman, often making comments to his peers that he was not cut for the job. This was further evidenced by his near brush with death in a raid on Big Boy's apartment and later, he made a full recovery from the bullet wounds. By the end of the case, the chief awarded Patton with a Medal of Valor for his strength to hold on, rather ironic prior to his blundering efforts.

Sam Catchem was Dick Tracy's second partner during his third year on the police force. He wore a rust-colored suit and fedora with a striped necktie, had black hair, a rumpled face with freckles and was often seen smoking a cigarette in his full lips. Tadashi could tell that he was from Brooklyn given his tough voice that sounded burly. Catchem was a childhood friend of Pat Patton, who previously worked as a dentist and studied in law school to find a well-paying job as a private investigator and a fingerprint expert. His first case involving Big Frost's moll Sleet was nearly unsuccessful when she tried to dispose of him by throwing his chloroformed body from an overpass on the interstate. Fortunately, he was found by a patrol car and Sleet was arrested for twenty years of racketeering with her husband.

Lizz Worthington-Grove was a new addition to the SFPD after eight months of extensive training. She was a slim blond photographer who often wore a red beanie, a pearl choker and a light purple dress with boot heels. She also had a posh voice that made her sound English, but was meant to reflect the British nature of her maiden name Worthington. Her late husband Jimmy was close with the police department in their aide of capturing the criminal Oodles and with no other job to do, Lizz decided to take a job as a policewoman to be more closer with her second husband Groovy Grove, coming close to death in her latest cases, and thus considered by Detective Tracy as the good luck charm of the Major Crimes Unit.

Tracy, on the other hand, did not see Hiro and Tadashi properly and thought that the passengers of the motorbike were sneak thieves. He walked over to the trunk of the Crown Victoria containing two objects: in his right hand, he carried a 1928 Thompson submachine gun and in his left hand was an electronic bullhorn in typical police like colors of black and white. Moving behind his car in case the sneak thieves were armed, he spoke into the bullhorn and his voice reverberated off the walls as he shouted: "Hands up! I've got a tommy gun in my hand and it's in a barking mood!"

Then, squinting his eyes, he instantly recognized the two brothers.

"Oh, you two."

Setting the bullhorn and the tommy gun down on the car's sunroof, he walked over to the brothers, pushing back his snapbrim fedora and stood with hands on hips and staring grimly down on Hiro and Tadashi. In return, the Hamada brothers looked at him in fear as though he were their late father as he asked them.

"Is there a problem boys?"

Tadashi tried to defend himself. "Yes, I caught Hiro participating in a bot-fight back there."

Hiro spoke on his own version of events. "Actually I was about to get a beating from Yama when Tadashi here saved me. You should have seen how much money I won!"

He waved the thirty grand in front of Tracy, who just swiped the money with his right hand and judiciously observed the details of the top dollar bill for any flaws, should the money be considered counterfeit. While pushing his thumb against the portrait of Benjamin Franklin, he concluded that it was legal tender after all.

"You do realize that gambling is not legalized here like it is in Las Vegas," Tracy said in a fatherly tone. "And even if you could gamble legally, you're way too young for that sort of thing. The Constitution says it all."

Tadashi narrowed his eyes at Hiro.

"_Told you so_," he whispered in Japanese.

"English please," Tracy was impatient with private languages. "And what exactly were _you _doing here, Tadashi?"

"I was just trying to get Hiro out from there. I had no involvement with any of this. _He's_ the one who participated, not me."

Hiro nodded at Tadashi's denial, but Dick Tracy was not the type of cop who could easily trust a person's actions based on claim, even to those he trusted the most…except for his family. He turned to Hiro, who just beamed while Tadashi was still upset over his younger sibling's rebelliousness, as showed on his mug of exasperation.

"We'll see what Chief Brandon thinks about that," Tracy spoke lowly.

He jerked his head back to his partners.

"Pat, Sam; put the cuffs on 'em. Lizz, take the money to charity. I'll go round up the rest."

As Tracy walked down the north passage in ominous, loud slaps of his black laced shoes, Hiro and Tadashi got off the bike, removed their helmets and exchanged a look that meant "we're in deep trouble now" as Patton and Catchem approached the brothers casually with handcuffs. Detective Catchem uttered the Miranda warning that he had memorized so many times over in his head.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

The Vespa was loaded onto a pickup truck and Detective Catchem placed Tadashi's hands behind his back and strapped the cuffs on while Patton did the same with Hiro. The boy was so thin that he found it difficult to adjust the ratchet at a size fit for Hiro's forearms.

"What's with placin' handcuffs on a young lad?" he sighed to Catchem. "His wrists could slip right out of them."

"Toddler handcuffs would be too tight for him," Catchem explained. "We don't use 'em too often and I don't think they make 'em anymore."

"Then what can I do? Tie him up?"

Hiro chuckled before Catchem glanced over him with blank eyes.

"It's a joke, kid."

"Why not just put me in a cage?" Hiro tried to play along with the sarcasm.

"It be too big for the car," Patton said.

"And in your case Hiro, you won't be going to any more fights if you were locked up all the time," Tadashi's face was directly upon Hiro's, glaring at where he had gotten them into. The younger Hamada just felt guilty, but next time, he would be more evasive from the cops.

Tracy was long on his guts when he approached Yama and his heavies. Diego, who was armed with a shiv, was the first to take action. He swung a hard right into Diego's stomach and doubled him over, then crossed Mordecai with a left into his jaw. Haf-and-Haf, Larceny Lu and Big Frost dropped their firearms and Yama picked up a lemon crate, smashing it over Tracy's head, but the cop was not fazed. He went down hard with both fists and slammed the both of them on Yama's crown. The boss appeared to be knocked out as he fell and just to make sure that he would not regain consciousness too quickly, Tracy swung his feet at Yama's head. Yin, however was the only one standing. He ran after Tracy from behind with Diego's shiv, and the detective pulled a right backhand into his nose, almost gushing out blood as he fell to the pavement.

When Panda, the Fujita leader and the rest of the crowd had seen this, Tracy glared and panned his head at the many men and women who had wasted their lives on illicit gaming of all other sins, like murder and human trafficking.

He shouted. "You are all under arrest for prohibited gambling, and unlawful usage of robotics."

The three odd ducks held their hands up in submission, and a paddy wagon was filled to the brim with Yama and his peers within three minutes. Tadashi and Hiro rode with Patton in the back of Tracy's unmarked Crown Victoria with Tracy in the driver's seat, Catchem riding shotgun, Patton on the right, Hiro in the middle and Tadashi on the left. Lizz had taken an extra squad car with Officer Murphy and was following the convoy of police vehicles behind the pick-up truck with Tracy's car taking the lead.

In the back of the Crown Victoria, Tadashi squirmed uncomfortably with the handcuffs placed behind his waist, Hiro suffered less, but not as much when Tadashi seethed through his teeth. "I hope you're happy now!"

Hiro tried to please Tadashi with something positive for a change. "Look, if they don't put us in a cell, we'll just wait in the office and they'll call Aunt Cass to pick us up and we'll go home together."

Detective Patton quietly scolded Hiro with a wagging right index finger. "Your whole _nirvāṇa_ is comin'. You'd better be hopin' that this does not happen on your judgment day."

"Speaking of judgment," Tadashi's voice started to rise. "I would love nothing more than to spank you RIGHT NOW!"

Tracy's eyes darted up at the rearview mirror to see Tadashi raising his left hand as Hiro recoiled into Patton's chest. Just when it looked like Tadashi would succeed into beating Hiro to his senses, Tracy turned his head back at them, shouting. "Will you two will be quiet?!"

The three back seat passengers stared at the driver with awareness.

"I don't think you get it, do you Hiro?" Tracy continued. He saw the police station up ahead and finished with a cautionary reply.

"Once you've taken the path to crime, you won't be getting out of it."

The unmarked car stopped at the sidewalk of 766 Vallejo St, home of the Central Police Station where Tracy and his Crimestoppers often worked at nightly hours. Tracy was the first to leave the car with Patton and Catchem escorting Tadashi and Hiro into the building and up the stairs to the office of Chief Jim Brandon, while Lizz helped her fellow officers (including Groovy Grove) with the arrested bot-fighters out of the paddy wagon and to their waiting cells. To Lizz's surprise, all but two of the cells were occupied thanks to the many crime waves that had been occurring since last month and nearly claimed the lives of 38 people. Usurped at the chockablock, she went upstairs to report to Chief Brandon.

She got there just as he was interrogating Hiro and Tadashi. Tracy, Patton and Catchem were also in the room, securing the door and surveying the brothers as they described the events up until now with care and great detail…with some ambiguity added to the story.

"So you say that you have been participating in five bot-fights for over the last month or so?"

"Since I graduated high school last year," Hiro replied to the rock jawed, ski nosed, black marble eyed figure of Jim Brandon. "There was nothing else I could do. Tadashi was working in the café, went to college and now he's working there as a robotics engineer."

Tadashi's mouth curled into a small smile at Hiro giving credit to his work at the school, but was frowning again when _otouto _blurted out. "But does he get paid? NO!"

"Actually," _onii-chan _corrected him. "I do get paid no more than $10 an hour."

"But that's too miniscule!" Hiro droned. "I knew that our _obasan _needed money and that I needed to put my brain to use, so I when first heard about these bot-fights online, I decided to make Megabot and participated to I could win a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY than what Tadashi here could produce!"

The chief winced. "Well, there are jobs open for fourteen year olds, like your aunt's café. I even hear she makes the best Irish coffee on the house."

"Actually, we serve smoothies," corrected Tadashi.

"I understand that," the chief nodded in return. "And how exactly did you find your brother?"

"Through the GPS system I sewed in his hoodie," Tadashi pointed out. "I followed him at a distance and when it looked like he was in trouble, I just got in there and tried to bail him out before Tracy here showed up and had me arrested."

"You know how Tracy feels about false claims," the chief said wryly. "He can arrest anyone who doesn't show a trusting face."

Tadashi pressed him further. "I _always _tell the truth."

Tracy crossed his arms. "Then, by all means, excuse my harsh behavior."

Hiro gave a stifled laugh at Tracy's brashness. It dropped when the chief instructed: "Put Tadashi in the holding cell, call the aunt and have Hiro hauled in to juvy court."

"Can't we just wait in your office?" Hiro was surprised.

Brandon's fingers were intertwined. "This is not a school where you can just wait for someone to pick you up, this is police headquarters. Well, next to the Hall of Justice, but I only go there on important occasions."

Lizz, who had been on the phone with the detention center on Woodside Ave while they were talking, informed him with disappointing information. "I just called and they're overbooked. So are the cells, but there's only one left."

"Hiro can take the cell."

"Could Tadashi stay in mine?" asked Hiro.

But Tracy had to deliver the bad news.

"Sorry kid, but the penal code states that no adolescents under the age of eighteen are allowed to share a cell with an adult. We can't risk getting you hurt by an occupant."

"Tadashi wouldn't hurt me, would you _onii-chan?_"

Tadashi, by this time, had gotten really pissed. He was giving him that "I will slap you" look for the second time and was lifting his right hand in a very threatening manner.

"I would right now if you hadn't-"

Tracy cut him off by gripping the raised fist with his left hand.

"Come on, Tadashi, I think your brother's had enough punishment from you. He'll get a lot more in his own cell."

And he personally escorted Tadashi out of the office.

"But, Tracy-!"

The next response Hiro got was from Detective Patton, who laid a comforting left hand on Hiro's left shoulder.

"Now don't get your hopes overexcited and don't ya be losin' head, young Hiro. We wouldn't want to be sued for child abusin' now can we?"

Hiro looked at Patton and felt the genuine benevolence in his soft Irish brogue. Looking down at himself, he finally gave in with a deep sigh and a deadpan "Okay."

"There's a good lad," Patton said and he and Catchem escorted Hiro out from the office while Lizz and Brandon waited in the shadows.

He sat on the edge of his small square bed when Catchem locked the barred door with his special set of keys and reported to the front office where Tracy was waiting.

"Okay, kid's locked up. I don't see why we have to make him stay in one of our cells."

"Well, if the detention center wasn't overbooked like Lizz said, I wouldn't have to worry about it. Now go call Ms. Hamada and tell her to wait for them outside."

That being said, Tracy walked past Catchem into the direction of the holding cells, where Hiro was waving his left hand nervously at Tadashi, whose cell was jam-packed with Yama, Mordecai, Yin, Diego, Haf-and-Harf, Larceny Lu, Big Frost and the other participators shouting in English, Spanish, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Italian:

"I demand my rights!"

"Let me out!"

"Get me my lawyer!"

"I demand justice!"

"You can't keep me in here!"

Lizz, who been downstairs to wait for Ms. Hamada with Officer Groove, slammed at the bars with a baton in her left hand.

"Pipe down in there! You'll be out by tomorrow morning!"

Tracy appreciated Lizz for her self-esteem, but for Tadashi, tomorrow was all he needed. He just continued to glare at his _otouto _for having them thrown in a jail cell…all because he wanted to prove to Hiro that bot-fighting was a major offence and that he was just trying to get him out of there with no harm done. The stare contest between Hiro and Tadashi continued for almost 35 minutes, with no obstacle in between them other than the yellow flash of Dick Tracy's trench coat, its bottom waving behind its owner like the rising tides of sodium colored ocean crashing against a 60 foot cage barrier. The detective was pacing back and forth, hands behind his back, wondering how long it would take for their aunt to arrive. After all, it was his brush with Pinkie the Stabber that helped him to console Cassandra after the death of her brother Tomeo and his wife, the former Maemi Takachiho in a car accident caused by Pinkie's crime spree.

Yama, on the other hand, was also looking forward to giving Hiro the beating his men had failed to inflict upon him before Tadashi arrived. Big Frost, feeling claustrophobic from such a tight space, banged his head softly against the right wall of the cell. Haf-and-Haf was feeling drunk from pints of Budweiser that he drank at the fight and Larceny Lu, unable to carry on with a life in prison, was choking herself to death with her pearl necklace. But it didn't work out very often and it made her feel depressed at longing for the exciting life that was the embodiment of crime itself.

So Tadashi just stayed there, his hands gripped on the bars and his eyes fixed into a sharp gleam until Officer Groove came in shouting.

"Tadashi and Hiro Hamada!"

"Yes?" the brothers chorused in unison.

"Your aunt is here."

At last the cell doors were opened and the brothers were freed. Tadashi was glad that no one had been touching him inappropriately since he was locked in. Tracy thanked Officer Groove for the information and he turned to face Yama, who was still locked up and looking at Hiro in a way that meant revenge on his life.

"Not to worry Yama, you'll get ten years on Alcatraz Island for this," Tracy taunted in his flamboyant way.

"If not sooner," glowered Yama.

No sooner had Officer Groove, Hiro and Tadashi reached the door at the end of the hall did Tracy turn himself back, wagging his right index finger in a reminding tone.

"And remember…crime doesn't pay."

It was going to take a whole lot more than just a cliché quote and 35 minutes in a jail cell to get Hiro out of his bot-fighting career once and for all.


	3. Friends and Family

Cass Hamada had led a stressful but outgoing life with her two nephews. She ran a modest teashop called the "Lucky Cat Café" at the bottom of her house on Haight St and had a recipe for almost everything pastry related. Her love of felines since the age of nine had transformed her into the resourceful stylist up to the point where she imagined, sketched and decorated her future dream home as everything cat-themed down to the last piece of furniture.

She had taken the full responsibility as a guardian when Hiro was four and Tadashi was eleven since all of their other relatives were distant and living in Okinawa, Japan, the birthplace of the Hamada and Takachiho families. Swearing an oath of honor to Judge Garrity (as well as her deceased brother and sister-in-law), she tried every trick in the book to know the hardships of raising two boys on her own, or at least her own knowledge of parenting. But it wasn't enough for her sake of parental problems, so it was Tadashi who provided Hiro with every bit of comfort that he needed. Unlike the rest of her family, Cass had little knowledge of the Japanese language, being able to say "Hello" and "Thank you" in her brother's ancestral tongue after flunking three of her language classes in Spanish, French and Latin.

When she received a call from Detective Catchem telling her that Tadashi and Hiro were in a cell after partaking in a bot-fight, she rushed right over without even bothering to close up shop in her bright blue 1950 Ford F-1 tow truck. Her driving skills required both eyes on the road and she nearly ran a stop sign that would have (in an ironic sense) earned her a ticket to where she was going. After picking up Tadashi's Vespa from the impound without lifting a finger from the strong employee who worked as a mechanic, she parked the truck outside the Central Police Station, waiting nervously as she bit her left fingernails into her pearly teeth.

After two minutes and twenty eight seconds, she saw Hiro and Tadashi by the door with Officer Groove.

"_Konnichiwa obasan,_" the two said sheepishly in unison.

Hearing their voices, Cass immediately ran over and wrapped her arms around the brothers into a big hug. Tadashi's neck concealed by her left arm and his chin on her cervical curve while Hiro was brushed against her chestnut brown hair with Cass' right arm wrapped around his left side.

"Are you guys okay?" she pleaded in grief-stricken worriedness. "Please, please tell me you're okay."

"We're fine and okay."

"Thank you, Officer Groove,"

"Anytime, Mrs. Hamada," replied Groove, and he went back inside to attend his wife's troubles with the other occupants.

Cass smiled at her nephews, a long, loving smile of gladness. Just when Tadashi and Hiro could assume that she would take them home without further problems, Cass pulled a 180 and gripped her left hand on Tadashi's right ear while her right hand held a tight firm on Hiro's left ear, so much that he would have suffered an internal hemorrhage.

She tugged them towards the pickup truck by the ears she was holding, and Hiro reluctantly sat in the middle while Tadashi sat next to him on the left hand side. Both Hamadas wished that she didn't have to do that. It became even worse as their aunt shouted pointedly in English.

"What the hell were you two thinking?! Going to a bot-fight like that! You could have been killed by one of those…freaks!"

The ride home was silent, with Tadashi smoothing his right ear and Hiro smoothing his left, Cass was glaring at herself in the rearview mirror as well as her own reflection in the windshield, her lips were scrunched up and her eyes had a steel fixture. Her hands remained on the steering wheel in a death grip and she remained tight-lipped until they were at least a half mile away from home.

"Ever since my brother, _your father_ and his wife died ten years ago, I have done the best I could to raise you! Have I been a perfect mom? NO! Do I know anything about children? Again, NO! Should I have picked up a book on parenting? Probably, YES! Should I have taken _Tomeo's_ advice on parenting?! YES! I CAN NOT TAKE ANOTHER DAMN FLAW!"

She took a deep breath and huffed it out as she saw the cafe up ahead. Continuing to mutter the words playing in her mind.

"…Where was I going with this? As your closest living relative, I had a point."

The lights in the café were turned surprisingly left on despite the average "Sorry, We're Closed" sign that hung from inside behind the glass door. This only proved to be more of a frustration to Cass as she took out her keys to make sure the door was unlocked before Hiro and Tadashi said: "_Obasan daisuke._"

"English please?"

"We love you, Aunt Cass," the boys murmured.

"Well, I love you too!"

She choked back a sob as she entered the door.

"I swear to Buddha, it's like the blind raising the blind," she muttered to no-one in particular.

Built in 1900, the walls of the Lucky Cat Café were painted in lime green against a wooden floor with a red circular window on the right hand side. Fifteen wooden chairs of different styles from Queen Anne to Old Dutch were placed in crooked positions from careless customers. One square table was placed near the circular window and the remaining five were round, carved from professional and amateur craftsman using oak, maple and mahogany. The foods served at the Lucky Cat were hailed by critics as the best coffee and breakfast spot on the West Coast, complete with strawberry, blueberry, banana and blackberry smoothies, crunchy ouiche, $1.50 for sardines, PLT sandwiches, egg salad, croissants, pies of cranberry, pear and rhubarb flavors and even donuts to make the mouths of men water with saliva.

Whenever Cass was in an upset mood of outrage, she would always overeat on nothing but fats and sweets to calm her nerves (to which she called "stress-eating"). As she walked her way to the wooden shelf of donuts in plastic trays, Hiro and Tadashi looked to see that they were not the only ones in the dining room. Sitting on the bench near the circular window was a red haired woman with a black hat, a green coat with black wool, black high heels and a dyed black rabbit muff. Next to her on the left was a freckled boy who was three years younger than Hiro, and wore short checked pants with argyle knee socks, a blue shirt and black-and-white polka dot necktie, and a little red cap, under which his reddish hair sprouted like weeds. Both persons carried the look and style of the traditionalists who lived not too far from the café: Dick Tracy's wife Tess and his adopted son Junior Tracy.

Tess Tracy (née Trueheart) was a photographer and a grocer's daughter, who had been in love with Tracy ever since he came to work at her parents' delicatessen store on Columbus Avenue for a small fee. When their love for each other had fully blossomed into a strong kinship, she had prepared for a romantic dinner date in a red lace dress and a scrumptious dish of meat and bread with chicken soup as the second course. Once they got home unfortunately, things had taken a turn for the worse. Two mobsters named Crutch and Spike had broken into the store and threatened her parents out of $20,000 dollars' worth of savings. When her father, Emil Trueheart denied access to the upstairs safe, he was shot in the chest by Crutch, and the two thugs broke the safe open with a hammer while Mrs. Trueheart fainted from the shock and Spike, who wanted nothing more than a hostage, gagged Tess and knocked Tracy out with a right hook to the jaw. They carried Tess off to the hideout of Big Boy Caprice, who was aroused by her blond hair and shade of skin that would have been as red as a Mahican princess, but was actually a very light tan. After a hard slap on his left cheek received from the young Ms. Trueheart, Big Boy enlisted her as the chauffeur of the car needed for a payroll robbery, thinking that no one would suspect a pretty girl behind the wheel. But before the plan was complete, Tracy came into Big Boy's confidence under the guise of a gangster and rescued Tess. Following that life changing sequences of events, Dick and Tess continued their relationship, though his new position on the Major Crimes Squad had prevented him from executing a proper engagement, and after three and a half years of interruption, they finally married on Christmas Eve. As a Christmas gift, the new Mrs. Dick Tracy had received a whole new wardrobe of green coats, black hats and cerise dresses from Q&J Boutique. Tess also got a bottle of red hair dye so that she would look stunning in her new clothes. Happy to accept the changes in her life, she was glad to have settled down with a detective and his newly adopted son, Junior.

Dick Tracy Jr. had come into his and Tess' lives about two years ago on the eve of Hiro's twelfth birthday party, to which by then, he was only known simply as "the Kid". His real name was John "Jackie" Steele and the only son of Colorado miners Hank and Mary Steele, who had several falling outs due to financial troubles over trust funds. When Junior was about 2 years old, Mary had fallen for a malformed looking hobo named Steve "the Tramp" Brogan, and they moved to the northwest of Japanifornia in search of a healthier atmosphere. When Mary came down with a mild case of scarlet fever, Steve took Junior away from her and a large sum of $500,00 was demanded for the price of his return. The ransom was not paid, and two weeks passed with no word from Steve, who did not hear about the reward and the two lived in a train yard somewhere outside of San Fransokyo. Seven years later, a nine year old Junior attempted to pick the watch of Pat Patton, and Tracy, at first assuming that it was a petty theft but soon had his doubts, took chase into the train yard just in time to save Junior from being thrown into the railroad tracks by Steve, who was upset over the short amount of items that he had stolen for the day and was beginning to get sick of having a street urchin steal for him. Before he could even abuse Junior further by having him decapitated by the wheels of an oncoming express train, Tracy snapped into action and took him off the street. Tracy had taken a shine to Junior while Steve was hauled into court where he confessed the real name of his step-son and Mary Steele was reunited with her lost Jackie. Now she worked at the chrome trimmed storefront of Mike's Diner across the Buena Vista Park from the Lucky Cat while her son started his own Junior Crimestoppers Club and fell for a girl named Moon Maid, who was believed to be an alien from the moon.

"Of all the nights, why did you two felons have to pick 'Beat-Poetry Night' to go bot-fighting?" Cass fretted as she took a quarter bite of a chocolate covered donut in her left hand.

Before Tadashi could deny his involvement, Tess got up from her chair and spoke defensively to Cass.

"Don't mind them, Cass. Junior wanted to stay for dessert and after you left I took care of the customers."

"I should have closed up early," Cass sighed.

Then Tess turned to the brothers.

"Hello, Hiro. Hello, Tadashi."

"Hello, Mrs. Tracy. Hello, Junior," the brothers greeted in unison.

Junior was the first to ask, "So what's up?"

"You should have seen me, Junior!" exclaimed Hiro. "I just took down a big robot by Mr. Yama and won thirty thousand bucks!"

"And your husband got us locked up in jail for the last hour and a half," Tadashi added to Tess in a sardonic tenor.

"Did he?" Tess asked in an unenthusiastic voice. She looked bored, and when someone like Tess Trueheart would be married to a famous plainclothes dick, action loses its excitement when it is encountered too often in the field.

Then, after blinking her eyes twice at the brothers, she said, "Nice seeing you," and headed straight to the door. But then she stopped and turned her head back, whispering, "Just don't ask me to like it."

As the door opened all the way for the bell to sound, she commanded the younger boy in a louder voice.

"Come on, Junior. We're going home."

Junior scurried after her and was outside by the time he waved goodbye to Hiro just as the door closed on him. He ran after Tess with quick feet, catching up to her in six beats of his racing heart.'

Cass was already walking up the stairs to the living room apartment, which was located on the second floor. Taking another quarter bite of her donut, she saw Mochi curled up on the countertop and shouted, "Come on, Mochi!"

Mochi woke up from his cat nap and climbed slowly down from the countertop on his front paws. Tadashi, hoping to explain what really happened, followed after them, leaving Hiro downstairs with another bot-fight on his mind despite his apprehension forty minutes ago.

Aunt Cass' bedroom had no windows, it was as small as the cabin of a cruise ship with an adjacent bathroom connecting to it. Her bed featured a cotton red blanket, a wooden dresser and a left bedside table where her alarm clock was positioned. She was taking slower bites of the donut when Tadashi came in along with Mochi. Of all the many times _obasan _had been there for her nephews, she was not the one to show any emotional support and it was because of her inattentiveness that prevented Hiro from aiming at a more meaningful purpose in life.

"You know, Aunt Cass, Hiro is the one who ought to be punished. After all, it was _he_ who participated in the fight, not me. I was just trying to bail him out. You can start by keeping him locked up in his room for a week."

"I don't know, Tadashi, I just don't have the heart for it."

She swallowed the last piece of donut whole and dropped down on the bed, back first with her legs hanging off the side.

Tadashi could tell that she was exhausted from a long day of operating the café and rushing over to pick them up from the police station. After petting Mochi's soft, hairy head with a stroke of his right hand he went upstairs to the third floor room where he and Hiro had slept for the past ten years of their lives. It was there that Tadashi first notified Aunt Cass of Hiro's intelligence when he created a quadruped robot in one minute and fifteen seconds, leading to the theorem. It was there that the brothers created their own Hamada Brothers Robotics Club and built a "jumpy bed" that tossed them into the air like bacon in a frying pan via hydraulic arms. It was there that Hiro and Tadashi tested their first "lab animal" Mochi on a set of four rocket boots (which Hiro later used to scare a sleeping Tadashi into a real life nightmare) and it was in the garage later on when Tadashi was fourteen and Hiro was seven that they created that makeshift airplane from a laundry dial, a shopping cart and a fan. The 30 minute long flight was thrill-seeking and breathtaking for Hiro as they enjoyed other, more normal things, like empty hand matches in the garage, teaching the safer ways of crossing the street, hyping over the latest movies and video games alike, watching the annual exposition at San Fransokoyo Tech and at the end of the day while working on stuff at night, they would turn on the old boom-box radio and listen to some of their favorite artists, like Owl City, Fall Out Boy, Greek Fire or 30 Seconds to Mars. Among these favorites was San Fransokyo's local starlet Patricia Mahoney, whose classic songs such as "Sooner or Later", "I Want More" and "Back in Business" to covers of Elvis Presley hits ranging from "Heartbreak Hotel", "Stuck on You" and "The Devil in Disguise" dazzled the many patrons of one of the city's most fancy schmancy nightspots: Club Ritz.

Now Patricia (or "Breathless" Mahoney as she tended to be called) was, in reality, a _femme fatale_ who led a double life of crime and entertainment. She frequently wore tight gowns (in plain leather or sequined) along with closed high heels, and would fix her gorgeous blond hair in the styles of Veronica Lake, Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe. Breathless first started out making an honest living as a student of journalism for the _Daily_ _San Fransokyo Tribune _when she first encountered Dick Tracy at the scene of the Emil Trueheart case and the two had formed a quick relationship. But after the recent discovery that her mother Elia had remarried to a confidence man named Shaky Trembly while she and her younger sister Heartless were away at boarding school on the other side of the state, Breathless soon went down the crooked path herself, and to allude the fact that she had been gifted with a tremendous singing voice, decided to make a much better profit as a vocalist because her paychecks at the _Tribune _were extremely terrible.

The first place she looked up was the recently opened Club Ritz in the downtown area of San Fransokyo on Broadway Street. The club's owner, Bob Honor was already searching for a songstress to sing at lively dinners and wild parties and Breathless immediately accepted under a contract requesting that her songs be broadcast on radio to make herself famous. Mr. Honor saw this as money-making opportunity and when Big Boy Caprice came along, the first thing he said to her was: "If a girl don't wear mink, she don't wear nothin'."

Breathless was flattered, but at the same time, she couldn't help but feel torn and powerless between her two suitors and under the thumb of the criminal underworld that wanted to the run the city dry. Throughout her life, she had been desperate in finding the right man to marry her in any way she could think of. She hoped to impress Tracy with her newfound fame and fortune, but grew bitter after his marriage to Tess Trueheart, and she knew that some of the people she encountered over the period of her three year career (namely the Hamada brothers) were much too young and much too smart to fall for her hook, line and sinker.

Hiro had never actually met Breathless before (other than in passing or just briefly), but Tadashi did. When he was old enough to visit nightclubs near the age of eighteen, an intrigued Tadashi was given a front row table to hear Breathless make her debut performance with the song "Sooner or Later" that she had specifically written herself. The rest of her test audience (some of them record producers) did not know what to make of her slow and seductive voice full of jazz, since the times had changed with punk rock groups and hip-hop artists, and she retired to her dressing room, thinking that her very first record had been a failure.

As selfless as he was, Tadashi followed Breathless into the dressing room where he articulated a positive outlook on her voice. Having been a fan of Stephen Sondheim for some time while taking music classes at his schools, Breathless and Tadashi were surprised at how much they had in common; although he wanted to keep their relationship as professional as possible since he already had his eyes on another girl named Aiko Miyazaki from SFIT.

In the meantime, Tadashi was pushing it all aside and thinking of other things. As part of their robotics club, they each had their own rules:

451: Hamada brothers never use something as lame as a notebook.  
>452: Hamada brothers don't judge notebooks by their covers.<br>453: Incoming trolleys don't scare Hamada brothers!  
>454: Hamada brothers laugh in the face of trolley danger.<br>456: Hamada brothers' projects have to be CRAZY AWESOME.  
>457: Hamada brothers only show their work to the outside world when it's ready.<br>(Sidenote: And AWESOME!)  
>1: Hamada brothers don't just reach for the stars. They reach for the flying cats.<p>

The rules were secret, so that only the two of them could know off the top of their heads and it was no wonder why Hiro sometimes thought that Tadashi was the good-looking one, while Tadashi himself thought that Hiro was smarter than him.

Hiro and Tadashi's bedroom was much larger than Aunt Cass' "ship cabin", painted in a very pale turquoise with red laminated beams and a giant Mazinger Z clock on a wall before the stairs. Hiro's half of the room took up most of the entirety with a large bed with a black and white striped blanket, three windows behind it, another on the left with a couch, a desk for his sleek black computer screen, three shelves full of action figures, a drawer for clothes, an oval mirror from the Gilded Age, a small light green shelf of important books, a lamp, a couple of posters, among them an advertisement of the television host Mr. Sparkles, blueprints for his inventions, postcards of their vacation spots, a lamp, a file cabinet shelf for Megabot, a red beanie, a maroon fiberglass dragon hung from the ceiling and a soccer ball on top of the wooden shelf.

Tadashi's half of the room was separated by a plain Shoji screen and took up a third with a bed in size and shape like Hiro's with the black and white striped blanket and a single window behind it. It contained a white surfboard from summer days gone by, black flippers, a wooden bookshelf with five rows of manuals and great works of literature, and extra two shelves packed with school books, a clover green carpet under the bed and a wooden shelf in front of it with binders on the top.

Tadashi was grateful in giving Hiro the larger part of the room, since he was claustrophobic at times and knew that his younger brother deserved better than a small space to let his imagination be cramped up, though it had cooked up his worst nightmare of Hiro using his brains on the illegality of bot-fighting instead of helpful purposes like he was. Tadashi had become something of a righteous Samaritan, as the deeper meaning of his Japanese name allowed him to help others even if they did not deserve it in situations, which started after the car accident that claimed his parents, and further increased by various visits with Hiro and himself to the doctor for a checkup or an operation where he studied from various doctors and nurses of history and local, more contemporary resources to create something revolutionary to the world of robotics in the war against bot-fighting.

As he reached the top of the stairs, placing his helmet and cardigan on the wooden four hook coat rack, he saw Hiro on the computer, hoping that he would not be doing what Tadashi thought he was doing, but he was. Hiro was undaunted by the arrest, and hoping to evade the cops the next time he went out, was already in the process of booking another bot-fight in the Tenderloin neighborhood not too far from Chinatown on the black and red textured website. Tadashi spoke to his brother commendably before he noticed the colors of the website in twenty seconds.

"You had better make this up to Aunt Cass before she eats everything in the café."

Hiro's eyes were glued to the screen. "Sure."

"And I hope you learned your lesson, bonehead. Or should I say, _shithead?_"

"Either one's fine."

Tadashi could see that Hiro's back was still turned on him.

"Hiro, are you listening to me?!"

Hiro turned his chair around with both eyes focused on Tadashi and admitted in a tone that sounded very responsible. "Absolutely."

But Tadashi's eyes had a better observation of the computer screen. He could tell that Hiro had just told a _lie._

"You're going bot-fighting aren't you?"

Hiro motioned his head three times in a nod which meant yes.

But Tadashi's tone went from suspicious to enraged. "AREN'T YOU?!"

This time, Hiro responded vocally.

"There is a fight across town. If I book it, I can still make it."

He got up from his chair and made his way to the stairs. But his destiny had come to a complete stop when he felt Tadashi's right hand place a tight grip on the hood of his sweatshirt. Visibly upset, Hiro did a 180 and found himself face to face with Tadashi and his look of genuine dismay.

"When are you going to start doing something with that big brain of yours?"

And to prove his point, he tapped Hiro's forehead three times with his left index finger. Then with an angry "Huh?!", he greeted all five of his left fingers to his younger brother's right cheek with a slap before Hiro pushed his arms free from Tadashi's hold, unaffected by the harmful move as he replied.

"You didn't have to hit me like that."

Now feeling sympathetic for his youngest sibling, Tadashi used the same hand again to rub the slap. The tone in his voice was a lot calmer than before.

"Are you going to keep hustling these aimless bot-fights, _otouto_, or are you going to start doing something with your life? You are wasting your time! What about your future? What about my devotions?! Didn't you learn _anything _from tonight!?"

Hiro had heard this before after the third bot fight he had gone to, and did not appreciate the harsh reprimand. So he came up with the most sensible motive-for the second time he said it.

"Maybe I have, but what else can I do?! I can't even find a well-paying job until I am at least sixteen!"

"Then you should do something other wasting your talent on these amazing bots."

"Like what, go to college like you did?"

"I am a good teacher."

"Who teaches me stuff I already know."

Tadashi's reply was brief and blunt.

"Unbelievable."

Then he placed his right hand over his face, nearly sobbing at the thought.

"_Maa nante koto nanda._ What would _okaasan _and _otousan _say?"

"They'd probably scold me," replied Hiro before turning away. "But that was a long time ago when I was four."

"And I promised them on their deathbed that I would protect you!" Tadashi retorted.

"From what?" Hiro frowned, turning his head back. "The sinners of this city?"

He was about a foot away from his older brother before he turned his head back a second time.

"Oh and by the way, I'll still be leaving so...we'll just think about it in the morning. _Sayonara, onii-chan._"

Tadashi threw his arms up in agony as Hiro made his way to the stairs.

"So go ahead! But think about this Hiro, who's gonna pay for all the penalty fees from all this bot-fighting? _Obasan_ and I are going to be neck deep in fines! We're not super rich you know!"

"You're the one who came back with a wad full of money one night!" Hiro called back from the banister. "If want to stop me, you're gonna have to catch me first."

And he resumed to walk down the stairs as Tadashi lifted his left arm and pointed at Hiro in an accusing and very threatening manner.

"Hiro, if you walk out that door, Detective Tracy will never forgive you! He'll give you a life sentence! And if you still keep this up, he will give you a death sentence!"

As his left foot was hovering over the sixth step of the staircase, Hiro panicked and ran back up the stairs to defend himself.

"He wouldn't do that! Not to a fourteen year old like me!"

Tadashi's voice was low with a seething tone of seriousness.

"Of course he would. Even in third world countries like South America or India have child criminals, and they have suffered a much harsher treatment than just sitting in the corner, like being executed by a firing squadron. Have you even heard of capital punishment?"

Hiro was startled. "Well I have heard about it, but I don't see that happening to me any time soon, unless if the people who do it are very...demonic."

"Oh yeah?" Tadashi scoffed. "Well its lot more gruesome than you think, because I see three methods; first they put you a room where they give you a lethal injection. It's like getting a shot only to find out that it is your final trip to the doctor. The second method is hanging. Once you are dead, your body falls through a trap door into a room below the execution chamber where your death is confirmed. And as for the third method, well...maybe you would like the electric chair?"

As he spoke, Tadashi walked behind Hiro, who was gazing down the stairs with shell shocked emotions and not wanting to hear what his brother had to say next.

"That's right, the good old electric chair."

As Tadashi leaned his face closer to the back of the younger Hamada brother's head, Hiro was still looking down at the stairs in disbelief. He shuddered and cringed at such morbid things like hanging or electrocution before he stifled a laugh, making him think that _nii-san _was just trying evoke fear into his heart by any means of abandoning the illegal underworld for good.

"Tadashi, you're just trying scare me, right?"

Tadashi had his arms crossed. "No, I really mean it. Now you can either go to college with me so I can teach you the proper and LEGAL uses of robotics or you can spend the rest of your goddamned life in _juvenile hall!_"

Frightened, Hiro turned to face his brother's angry eyes. He knew what it was like to live in a youth detention center (or juvenile hall as some people had called it) from videos and pictures that he had seen online. Taking in all of the unspeakable atrocities with a guilty expression, he buried his face into his brother's abdomen and Tadashi rested his chin on Hiro's head, wrapping his arms around him in a comforting hug.

"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have yelled at you."

He moved his chin away from Hiro's head and looked at him, smiling.

"Now have you learned your lesson?"

Hiro looked at the older Hamada brother before he slumped the right side of his face back into Tadashi's chest and mumbled the next six words with defeat.

"All right. You win. I'll go."

Successful, Tadashi patted Hiro's head with his right hand.

"That's my bro."

He kissed Hiro's forehead as an act of mutual respect for _otouto's_ obedience and Hiro could see that _Onii-chan _was right. He looked at Megabot on the shelf and asked Tadashi.

"Is it alright if I took Megabot with me? It is a robotics institute after all."

"More than that," smiled Tadashi. "It's a college for _everyone_."

* * *

><p>The San Fransokyo Institute of Technology (commonly abbreviated as SFIT, or San Fransokyo Tech) was a college campus that lengthened to about a mile long and almost a hundred years old. It was built in 1932 and was located in the far south of Presidio, which also featured a park and a military base for graduating rookies with a college degree. It was home to many of San Fransokyo's scientists and engineers, and was the very center of all science and technology in the city. It attracted various students who studied in the fields of computer science, robotics degrees and technological advancements from all over the globe and with these rising amounts, the campus had quickly expanded to five buildings with three of its older buildings still in use. A total of 1,289 students currently occupied the school by seven hours of the day and worked on their achievements at night until 9:30 p.m. for extra classes, which was what Tadashi was going to take Hiro to see.<p>

Tadashi drove the Vespa past the front gate toward the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab on the eastern side of the campus with Hiro riding on the back. The tower gates were in Renaissance-style and on each side of the gates were ground offices in the traditional Japanese design of tatami and shoji from the Heian period. The words "San Fransokyo Institute of Technology" on the entrance sign along with the school's logo were lit in a neon turquoise. The logo was a round shape with a gear design, containing "San Fransokyo" on the top and "Institute of Technology" in a shaded layer. The dark letters "SF" were found in the very center of the circle, almost blackening the rest of the turquoise.

As they approached the lab on a cul-de-sac, passing a traditional style dorm room with a gothic Notre Dame-like tower in the center of it, Hiro had completely forgotten as to why Tadashi would bring him here, thinking they had made up their quarrel and he agreed to visit the institute. Sometimes, recent memories can be can be quite of a blur, especially if it has been a minute after the occurrence.

"So…what are we doing here again?"

"You agreed," Tadashi told him.

"About the school?"

"Yes."

"Are you signing me up or do you just want to show me the place?"

"A little bit of both, actually _if _I have the time. It'll be an hour before 9:00."

Tadashi parked the Vespa at the front steps of the super modern Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab. It was named after the founder of the school and was a recent edition in 2012 with heavy modifications. The exterior of the building itself was futuristic in every way, entirely made of cutting edge steel and international styled reflective glass embedded with transparent solar panels to conserve energy when not being used at night or closed for certain occasions and at the same time, exposing most of the building's interior. The shape of the building was almost like a domed mushroom with a roof of nine LED lights towering above the entrance. There were four doors against a circle leading to the inside, with a streamline moderne designed office to accommodate the local purists and architectural enthusiasts with a secondary passion for technology in lantern fixtures and decorative miscellanea.

As Tadashi got off the back, removing his helmet as he did, he turned around to hear the voice of a young man who been standing there before they arrived.

"Excuse me, do you know if there are any job openings around here?"

Hiro turned to hear the source of the voice as well. The young man was a thin 24 year old, with brown spiky hair and blue eyes. His shoes were yellow and crown symbols adorned the end of his pant legs of his red jumpsuit that featured a long zipper running through the middle. He also wore a white and black overjacket with an indigo interior and black on the exterior with white sleeves ending in grey edging, white gloves on his hands with blue, black and yellow straps, a crown pendant around his neck and a loosely worn blue belt. This was Sora.

"Are you here to apply for the school?" Tadashi asked without noticing his age.

"We're just visitors from Destiny Islands and Disney Castle," said Sora. "And to share the history of the Keyblade with the student body."

Tadashi's eyes narrowed. "How much do you know about it?"

"I am one of them."

Proving this, he opened his right hand and a magic substance of white and star-yellow formed the shape of a skeleton key before it solidified into a blade with teeth forming the outline of a crown. The rain-guard was midnight blue, the guard was bright gold, the handle was of black rubber and a keychain bearing the head of King Mickey Mouse himself was attached to the rear of the guard. It was called the "Kingdom Key", the very weapon used by Sora in his many adventures and escapades.

Tadashi and Hiro were in disbelief before a second had passed and the reality of the Keyblade had been taken in before their eyes.

The older Hamada cleared his throat. "Well, nice to meet you. Tadashi Hamada, I'm a robotics engineer for the school."

"I'm Sora," the young man said dipping his head down by a creek.

He gestured to the sailor suit clad duck on his right and the five foot anthropomorphic dog on his left wearing a green marrowbone-like fedora with a black band, blue pants, long brown shoes, white gloves, an orange shirt and a black vest.

"This is Donald and he's Goofy."

Donald waved his right hand slightly while Goofy just raised his left hand with no vibration. Hiro removed his helmet, giving the three newcomers a full look of his black hair.

"I'm his brother, Hiro."

While he was often shy amongst strangers, especially foreigners, Hiro stepped off the bike, placing his helmet down on the seat and walked slowly towards Sora to gain his trust. Unable to stop himself at the mere excitement of seeing a stranger to his shore, he jerked himself in front of Sora and shook the ten-years-older-than-him-stranger's left hand with his right.

"Kinda jumpy, aren't you?" Sora nearly chuckled at Hiro's impulsiveness.

"Swell," said Donald, arms crossed and tapping his right foot as if it were the most aggravating thing in the world. "Now may we have the tour?"

Tadashi nodded. "Yes, follow me."

And up the steps they went into the building with Tadashi taking the lead.

As a former student and an avid fan of sports, Tadashi always kept a black baseball cap in the rear right pocket of his trousers. It bore the logo of the city's home team, the San Fransokyo Ninjas, the "SF" in gold yellow and the signature "N" in a fiery shade of red. A special 18th birthday present from the school to show their gratitude towards the hard work of a generous young man. Tadashi accepted the job, not wanting to be anywhere else but home, as his deep-knit relationship with Hiro kept him bound to the city limits. He enjoyed wearing the cap from the moment he first laid eyes upon it, almost _never_ wanting to take it off. Sports like baseball, basketball, volleyball, bicycle racing, surfing and snowboarding helped provide Tadashi with the motivation of watching his weight, something that female subjects like beauty models were more obsessed in doing.

In the streamline moderne styled office, the entourage of five was approached by Vitamin Flintheart, the big-hearted actor and drama class teacher known for his hammy performances in soap operas and westerns on many soundstages and backlots in all of Japanifornia's major and minor film studios as well as Shakespearian plays in local theaters of any quality. He was tall, dignified, and elderly with a distinctive moustache and was a friend of Dick Tracy, addressing him as "Richard" due to the offensive usage of the name "Dick". He often wore black berets, fedoras, tan colored trench coats, with scarfs of a different color, smooth trousers and sensible shoes. Vitamin had earned his nickname from a propensity toward chugging health tonics like Bromo-Seltzer and popping vitamin pills down his throat in pursuit of a youth long since fled. He was also married to the talented young dance and skating instructor, Snowflake Falls, whose black hair, light blue eyes and slender hourglass figure made her the queen of ice skating in the city.

He greeted Tadashi with a dip of his head.

"Hello, Mr. Hamada. Have you some newcomers in your company?"

"Yes, Vitamin, this my brother Hiro and these are some visitors to tell us about the legendary Keyblade."

The three newcomers spoke each of their names.

"Donald Duck, sir."

"Name's Goofy Goof."

"I'm Sora."

"Vitamin Flintheart at your service."

"I was just about to give Hiro and these newcomers a tour of the lab upstairs. Care to share your history of the place with my bro, Vitamin?"

Vitamin checked his bronze pocket watch, which read 8:28.

"Love to," he apologized. "But my shift is over and I need to get some rest. I have a long class tomorrow and I must show the new applicants how superior my way of acting works if they want to embody the true emotions of drama."

And he was out the door after throwing a small pill into his mouth.

Taking the stainless steel elevator to the second floor, Tadashi, Hiro, Sora, Donald and Goofy came to a silver-grey corridor with a wall of white and blue doors on the left and translucent walls encased in smart glass that, if made contact from the inside will deactivate the "frosted" mode, exposing a crystal clear view of the interior on the right.

"How long will this tour be?" Goofy asked for no particular reason.

Tadashi smiled as entered the door. "Enough to show all four of you the basic ideas. Hiro has only been to the campus twice before and after I graduated. He hasn't even seen my lab."

Hiro's reply was full of pure sarcasm, uninterested over his forced decision. "Great! I get to see your nerd lab!"

But the very moment he stepped out from the shadows of bot-fighting, Hiro had entered the door to a brand new world of robotics. Before he could take it all in however, a woman's voice shouted:

"Heads up!"

Hiro jumped back at the 5'4 tall figure that passed him like lightning: a motorist wearing a dark gray leather jacket, fashionably ripped dark gray leggings with violet patches, underneath a pair of black shorts with red highlights, a white shirt, black trainers with blue on them, and bare-knuckle gloves. The motorist approached a rack of tools and turned the rear of the makeshift bicycle that was as yellow as Dick Tracy's trench coat in a clockwise direction and hitched it to a black harness suspended by titanium cables. He observed the motorist taking a close inspection of the rear wheel and threw it behind her back, instantly attaching to its former position on the drive chain instead of falling to the floor like it should have been logically. It was magnetic.

When he took three steps closer to the bicycle, Hiro was called to the attention of Sora's "Wow!" at all of the many sights of technological projects. Two hydraulic arms, one lime yellow and the other one a rusty orange were playing an artificial intelligence table tennis match with an actual table, ball and ping pong paddles as a young man and a girl in her early twenties watched with amazement. A bearded boy in his late teens was working the controls of his four rocket boots attached to a mask-and-mantle cat, something that reminded Hiro of his younger days when he worked a similar invention on Mochi, dubbing him "Rocket Cat". There were also 3D printers, the turbine of a Cessna jet, a dark skinned male riding a Mars rover on a simulated platform, a rolling bot that looked like a CD player from a distance and an inflatable great white shark used for underwater sessions.

While he stood looking eagerly at the makeshift bicycle with a small fourth of the wheels streaked in light purple and a spot of gray in the middle, Hiro felt a hum as he moved his right hand over the wheel that he had seen being thrown back in place.

"Whoa. Electromagnetic suspension?" he was amazed at the sight of it, as opposed to how much work had been brought into the wheel.

"Hey! Who are you?"

Hiro turned to face the source of the muffled voice. It was the motorist, her helmet's jet black visor portentously reflecting the boy's worried face.

Tadashi appeared behind him. "Go Go, this my brother Hiro."

The motorist removed her helmet to reveal a head of fair skin, pink lips, short, somewhat scruffy black hair with violet streaks, brown eyes, and lavender eye shadow. She blew a pink piece of gum into a bubble twice the size of her lips, opened her mouth, pulled the gum in-between her teeth and shut it into the back of her throat with a small pop. Her name was Leiko Tanaka.

Leiko Tanaka was a sixteen year old messenger girl with the spirit of an adrenaline junkie and a punk female member of a motorcycle gang associated in short terms with the criminal Floyd Jones. She was aptly called "Go Go Tomago" for her speed and sheer sarcasm. Her highly aggressive personality was attributed towards her ignorant parents, allowing Go Go to live her life to the extreme with the criminal underworld in gang races almost one year ago, that earned her a four-pack of squiggly designed tattoos near her shoulders and by her knees along with a criminal record that turned her parents into the overprotective type. It was also around that time that Tadashi had caught her eye, successfully persuading her to a better life in SFIT rather than facing jail time, though she wasn't able to accept any limits towards the leisurely pacing of the school.

When she looked at Hiro, comparing his looks with Tadashi's, all she could say was.

"Welcome to the nerd lab, _so-nyeon_."

"You speak Japanese?" Hiro asked her.

"I'm Korean, and my name is Leiko Tanaka."

Hiro giggled at the remark. Sora, Donald and Goofy approached her with courtesy.

"Ma'am," they all waved.

"A talking duck in a sailor suit and a human dog in a green hat? Now I've seen everything."

Her comment did not show any sign of offense on Donald and Goofy's faces, but Sora was curious at seeing the magnetic functions of the bicycle.

"I've never seen this type of magnetism on a bike before."

"You mean electromagnetic suspension?" said Go Go while adjusting the rear wheel. "It's got zero resistance, making it a faster bike. But, sadly, it's not fast _enough._"

And with her reflexive right hand, she threw the wheel as if it were the vibranium shield of Captain America (whom she had been a fan of through her traditionalist neighbors) towards a blue recycling bin of seven other wheels bearing the same size, shape, and color, three of them not being contained and laying outside the bin.

"Well, not _yet _anyways," finished Go Go, and she went over to the 3D printer on the other side of the lab to start work on another wheel for the eleventh time in the last seven days of gathering the right essentials.

Hiro, who had been fretting in surprise by her athletic skills, heard the high-pitched whirs of some type of machinery behind his back. Tadashi, watching him with his hands placed on the blue workbench, followed his eyes in synchronization of Hiro's direction toward a burly African-American with smooth dreadlocks, brown eyes and a stubble of beard. He wore white sterile gloves, yellow protective goggles, a light green sweater embroidered with a mustard yellow stripe across the middle with lime green squares, black jeans and all black jikatabi shoes. He was known as Wasabi No-Ginger.

Wasabi No-Ginger (whose real name was Damion), was a top-ranking sushi chief with a razor sharp talent who worked at Tako Taco, a Mexican-Japanese hybrid of a restaurant, where the main course was an octopus taco. He was patient, mysophobic, disciplined, quiet and very strict by the book, who had a mild obsessive compulsive disorder and loved nothing more than to talk about important matters (despite a few exceptions). At twenty years of age, he signed on to SFIT with the idea of creating a plasma blade that could cut through anything but humans to save time on washing utensils. So far, he was in the process of creating a laser screen with a little magnetic confinement for ultra-precision. His work space was immaculately organized with two computer screens, one subwoofer, three danger signs regarding the reader not to slip or fall on spilled liquid and a dark grey generator to power the machine.

When Hiro approached Wasabi with curious eyes, the Afro who had been adjusting a key on the top of the left laser pole saw the young man within the vicinity of a danger zone and held out his gloved right hand defensively at Hiro, pushing him back by four steps.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah! Do not move!"

He pointed his right index finger down at the black and yellow striped hazard line that was taped vertically to the floor.

"Behind the line, please!"

Hiro quickly removed his right foot from the line that it had been standing on. He wondered what could have made the guy so jumpy, the hazard line had to be there for a reason.

Just then, Tadashi, Goofy, Donald and Sora came up to him from behind.

"Hey, Wasabi!" greeted Tadashi. "This my brother, Hiro."

Sora lifted his left hand upwards to gain Wasabi's attention. "And I'm Sora. How do you do?"

Wasabi lifted the yellow goggles with his right hand, greeting the newcomers with a cool expression as if he were a rap singer.

"_Jambo_, Hiro and Sora, prepare to be amazed by the great Damion."

He grabbed a juicy red apple sitting on top of the generator with his right hand, tossed it behind his back and caught it in-between his left thumb and index finger.

"Catch."

A split second after he threw the apple past the poles, the shiny red exterior had transformed into twenty two wafer-thin layers of white. Hiro caught the last one with his right thumb and index fingers, observing it with wonder. Sora caught another, Goofy hid his layer that originally belonged to the stem in his right pants pocket for safe-keeping and another layer that belonged to the core landed in Donald's beak. The duck swallowed it whole, not feeling anything by the small amount of juice and a thin seed that instigated from the layer.

"Wow. How'd you do that?"

"Lasers."

And to prove this, Wasabi flipped on the generator and a screen of green and blue lasers filled in-between the two poles.

"Laser induced?" Hiro asked him.

"Yep," replied Wasabi as he removed the key from the left laser pole onto a burgundy colored workbench with four wheels. On the table was what Wasabi called his "system", providing him with organized tools under a matching white outline to designate which tool matched the outline from the smallest to the largest, including five other keys, six wrenches, a black plug, twelve sockets, a ratchet, a triangular ruler, nine screwdrivers, a remote, three black curettes, a blue case of four small screws, two black squared magnifying glasses, a small scope, a drill, two oil cans, three keys in bronze silver and gold and a mug labeling "Sugar", "Milk" and "Coffee" in red lines.

"There has never been a system so precise like a little magnetic confinement for ultra-precision," Wasabi went on. "I have also specialized in teaching Swahili, Spanish, French and Klingon."

"You're a Trekkie?" asked Hiro as he observed the black magnifying glass.

"Yes, indeed. So was my pop."

"How do you find anything in this mess?"

Wasabi grabbed back the magnifying glass and put it back in place.

"As I said before: I have a system."

He extended his hands back with the finishing quote. "There's a place for everything and everything is in its place."

As his hands motioned to a complete stop, Go Go appeared as if out of nowhere and grabbed a ¾ wrench from the worktable, pushing it over with her thigh and nearly messing up the contents out of place.

"Need this!" she shouted as the wrench was swiped into her left hand.

Wasabi lost his temper at this display of rude behavior, shouting pungently in Swahili. "_You can't do this! This is anarchy! Society has rules!_"

He chased after her continuing to shout in English. Sora, his friends and the Hamada brothers watched him leave. Just then, a girl of seventeen shouted, "_¡Discúlpeme!_" as she rolled with a black rubber ball that looked as big as an average beach ball.

The girl had lightly tanned skin, bright green eyes and long, honey-blonde hair that reached halfway down her back. She was thin and distinctly tall, appearing to be so even without the yellow platform heels. She wore pink lipstick and large, magenta rimmed glasses that also functioned as impromptu safety goggles. Her clothing consisted of a late sixties short yellow dress with a beige headband, a lab coat, white pants and dark orange socks to go with her platform heels.

The girl, Aiko Miyazaki, was a talented chemist with a burning passion for blowing things up and the type of girl with fire in her stomach. Though tired of the embarrassment brought up by the mispronunciation of her real name, she had her name legally changed to "Honey Lemon" after her favorite television program. Bright and cheerful at her best, she had previously worked as a barista at the Sweet Bean Coffee shop downtown with her Hispanic parents, who often socialized with the traditionalists and were fluent in English and Japanese. In making herself more well-known in the food business, she performed some volunteer work in other restaurants, including the Lucky Cat Café where she met Tadashi on his first day at the Tech and the two had fallen in love on a platonic level (considering themselves as just friends). During her more recent time as a student, the other females looked at Honey Lemon as an outcast, as she stood out from the rest, thanks to her fashion sense as a traditionalist herself and she was very concerned about the clothes she wore, especially her more suitable outfits for balls, proms and parties of upper and lower classes. She also ran an online boutique store and was a photoholic with her iPhone, taking selfies and pictures of many things she saw to count as memories enough to drive the phone's memory up the wazoo.

She rolled the ball onto a four armed platform, placing her legs against the pale blue cabinet drawers, with her upper body and head observing Tadashi from upside down. She was excited to the young boy standing by him.

"_¡Dios mío! _You must be Hiro! _Mi nombre es Aiko Miyazaki, pero me puedes llamar 'Honey Lemon'._"

"You speak Spanish?" asked Hiro in utter confusion.

"WHAT?!" Honey screamed. It did not take a second for her to realize that she had been listening to José Luis Rodríguez's _Boca, Dulce Boca _on her iPhone through white earbuds. She removed them and French-kissed Hiro's cheeks. Tadashi blushed in front of Sora who just smirked in stupidity while Donald and Goofy giggled.

"Tadashi has told me sooooooooo much about you! Perfect timing!"

Hiro took in a great breath when he saw the rubber ball rising up to his eye level on a lift.

"That's a whole lot of tungsten carbide," he muttered rapidly.

Honey gripped Hiro's right lower arm with excitement.

"Four hundred pounds of it!" she squealed into his right ear. "C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! You're gonna love this!"

Honey pulled Hiro over to her chemistry set, a table long series of laboratory equipment.

"A dash of perchloric acid…"

She twisted a knob and a yellow green liquid swirled down and up a thin pipeline into a larger tube of ocean-blue liquid.

"A smidge of cobalt…"

She twisted the knob on a cone shaped container and a drop of indigo colored liquid landed on a smaller version at the bottom, striking the dish with a miniature mushroom cloud that was indigo at first then faded into a dark shade of iris.

"A hint of hydrogen peroxide…"

She whipped out a flamethrower with a sapphire can featuring a dark blue dragon looking panicked and aimed it at a vial of yellow liquid, engulfing it.

"SUPERHEAT IT TO 500 KELVIN, and…"

The yellow liquid had changed to pink and she removed the vial from its place. Honey danced as she sprayed the rosy substance all around the black ball as Hiro and Sora watched and the crazed girl flipped a switch. Electricity swirled around the ball while the pink matter was still in the air, in just a split second, the electricity had absorbed the substance onto the ball with not a speck of dust around it.

"Ta-dah! It's great isn't it?"

Although it was a safety precaution to have one's hair pulled up in a science lab, Honey Lemon didn't mind as she had her hair constantly styled all the time in 60s and 70s to match her dresses. Hiro, however, did not know what to say as he never been introduced to a new type of chemical, but Sora did.

"It's very…pinky."

"Pinky's for _little girls_," Honey said with distaste. Her voice suddenly changed to sing-song. "Here's the best part!"

Grinning madly, she tipped her way to the ball and lowered her left index finger towards the surface. Just as the finger made contact with the ball, a strong wind blew a shockwave through their hair and Honey was lost from head to toe in a pink cloud of chemical combustion.

"Woah…."

Sora and Hiro were left in a daze, a happy, silly daze. The specs of Honey's glasses were covered in pink dust, completely obscuring her eyes until she removed them.

"I know right?! Chemical metal embrittlement. I believe the world can be made into a happier, and much brighter place, through the thorough application of nature's toolbox-CHEMISTRY!"

Tadashi walked up, sporting a romantic look in his eyes. "Not bad, Honey Lemon."

"What's with all the weird names?" Hiro asked in confusion. "'Go Go'? 'Wasabi'? 'Honey Lemon'? Why not just call them by their real names?"

"I really don't like my real name," Honey said sourly. "Aiko Miyazaki is so Japanese, Honey is more…Spanish, like my mother's Hispanic background. You see, my dad's Japanese, and my mother is, as I've already told you, Hispanic."

Wasabi was nearby, having overheard their conversation as he paced around the room in a hysteria from Go Go's theft of the wrench.

"I spilled wasabi on my shirt one time, people! ONE TIME!"

Sora walked over, curious to hear the origin of his pet name.

"How exactly did you spill wasabi? I thought it was just a mushy substance."

"That is the most peculiar thing, Sora, because I distinctly remember it like it was yesterday. I was at my restaurant with my friends over there, I dipped my nacho chip into the wasabi bowl and was just about to eat it when Fred Lee comes up shouting about a new comic book and he makes me drop it, RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF MY SHIRT!"

Sora flinched at Wasabi's outburst before he asked. "Who's Fred Lee?"

"This guy, right here!" said a voice.

Turning his head counter-clockwise, Sora was soon face to face with what looked like a green lizard with orange eyes and black scales, a costume of some sort carrying a red board with the insignia of the school on one side under his right arm.

"Don't be alarmed, it's just a suit, not my real face and body" the voice of the dragon spoke before revealing himself to be a tall, shaggy, and scrawny young man with brown hair and blue eyes. His traditional outfit consisted of a brink pink T-shirt with a Japanese Kaiju monster imprint and white, long-sleeved undershirt, dark green, OD cargo shorts, and white sneakers with emerald laces. He was Fred Lee.

Fred Lee was a fan of DC Comics and _tokusatsu_ monster movies, featuring classic characters like Godzilla and Anguirus. He was also an English major and had been involved in many not-for-profit volunteer organizations supported by the recommendation of scientist Reed Richards and soldier Timothy Dugan in his letter to SFIT. Born an Ainu in origin and raised in a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base in Japan with his parents Stanley and Joan, Fred had been fascinated in science after having been around experimentations all his childhood. Now eighteen years old and experienced in the reflexes to twirl a sign, he moved to San Fransokyo for a normal life, a life of fiction becoming a reality. He was immersed with such ideas that could be considered ridiculous in some circles. In fact, out of mutual respect for Tadashi as long as he participated in his duties commendably, Fred did not give his "boss" a nickname for himself.

He pulled out his right hand from the costume and used it to shake Hiro's left hand wildly, but the younger boy did not show any sign of lightheadedness.

"Name's Fred Lee. I'm a school mascot for the Green Lizards by day. But, by night…"

He twirled the red sign behind his back, flipped it over his head, bounced it with his feet, spun it around in his left hand and snaked it behind his back again before he exposed the front, bearing the logo against an artwork of flames.

"I'm also a school mascot."

"Actually," Tadashi interfered. "He's my lab rat by night."

Fred cringed at the very word. Tadashi was so nice, yet he had to suffer at the hands of a Samaritan for more important occasions. "Please, don't say that, it makes me feel uncomfortable."

Hiro, having suffered at Tadashi's wrath a lot worse than Fred, just rolled his eyes and smirked for being so lucky.

"And what's your major?" asked Sora.

"I'm not really a student, but I am a major science enthusiast."

He walked over to his "workspace", a dark maroon recliner made of leather with a pink table and a pile of 59 comic books underneath the shelf. He pulled out an issue from the bottom, gazing at it in his right hand with epic proportions. On the cover was a bespectacled dark haired man in a blue shirt, going through four stages of an illustrated transformation: the first was his normal self, the second grew scaly and the shoulders of his shirt were torn, the third showed only a only layer of the shirt with the glasses falling off, with the man turned into a lizard like creature and the fourth and final stage showed the complete transformation of the man turned into a fire breathing lizard with a rhinoceros' horn and was as large as the Incredible Hulk.

"I have been trying to get Honey over here to create a formula that can turn me into a fire-breathing lizard at will. But she says it's not science."

To prove his point, Fred made quotation fingers at the words "not science". Honey, Donald, Goofy, Go Go and Wasabi were already by the recliner and heard everything.

"It's really not possible," Honey tried to explain, her tone sounding sweet in direct contrast to the negative nature of the comment.

Fred turned to Wasabi. "And I suppose the shrink ray I asked for is not science either?"

"_No,_" Wasabi admitted sadly in Swahili.

Then Fred had an idea.

"How about an invisible sandwich?"

Go Go concealed her face with her left hand.

"You are such a retard," she muttered.

Honey elbowed the hand.

"I heard that!" she spoke in defense of the mascot.

"Tough luck, loser," Go Go glared.

"Oh c'mon, Leiko, do we always have to suffer over men?"

"Not at all, _Aiko._"

Go Go turned to Wasabi, Fred, Donald and Goofy. "Could you excuse us?"

"No," Wasabi told them without a care. "Go and do whatever you want."

They moved over to Go Go's side of the lab where the bike remained suspended without a front wheel. It was the farthest from Fred's workplace and it was in spot where Go Go and Honey liked to share their thoughts, even though as girls they had a shallow rivalry over boys.

"Go Go, can you blame me for trying to maintain a perfect image for a boy like Hiro?"

"What about him?"

"At least, we are not as far gone as some of the others. You saw what happened to your first boyfriend John Yamada."

"He was too vain for me anyway. Besides, he was Japanese, not Korean like me. No accent, no features, all completely American."

"And Johnny Mintworth."

"Who?"

"The visiting millionaire playboy. You remember him, don't you?"

"The one who was too old for me?"

"Exactly."

Go Go placed her hands on her hips, not wanting to remember the time Johnny Mintworth threw a big party last year after a breakthrough in his account.

"How old is he?" she asked Honey.

"31."

"_Way _too old."

"And you know Peanut Butter, the young genius?"

"That smart aleck?" Go Go groaned in disgust. "I never liked him. He was always so boastful even after he went on to become a member of the police force uptown."

"He's a junior detective near Union Square," Honey corrected.

Go Go shrugged. "Perfect. At least he won't be bothering me anymore."

"But Hiro is not like any of those three. Slowly but surely, he'll warm up to you…and maybe you'll find that he's the right guy."

Go Go was unmoved by Honey's comment, she was focusing her mind on something else.

"Why did I have to get dragged into this nerd school? It's not like _the both of us _got in trouble for anything."

"No, but don't you remember that it was because of Tadashi that got you out from a life of juvy hall?"

This caused Go Go's eyebrows to rise.

"I suppose so," she muttered.

Honey tried to get into her head.

"All I know is, maybe Hiro will be a good match for you. After all, the both of you are like two years apart."

In a brief moment of friendship, Go Go fixed Honey with a small smile. This was definitely against her Clint Eastwood-like persona of tough grits.

Nobody had noticed that Hiro and Sora were missing.

* * *

><p>"In case you have already realized," Tadashi said to Hiro as they entered his laboratory across the hall. "Those four are all part of my research team. They have been here since my third year."<p>

"And I'm just a one man band," Hiro muttered, realizing to himself that he had no friends to share his creations with other than Tadashi.

"What about all those times together? Like building stuff and coming up with original ideas?" Tadashi asked.

"Okay, that was a two-man band," Hiro admitted.

Swinging through the doors, Hiro took his first ever glimpse of Tadashi's laboratory. It had a 20 foot circular window with a plasma computer screen on the right, and stocks of a light blue desk, a dark brown drawer and a yellow file cabinet. A white mechanical arm was placed on a turquoise colored trashcan. Six posters of heart beats and retina patterns filled the wall above another computer that had three monitors and a table lamp for extra lighting.

As Hiro fiddled with the white mechanical arm, Sora asked him. "What have you been working on?"

Tadashi got out a roll of grey duct tape from a red tool box and pulled out a four inch piece that left his brother completely dissatisfied.

"Duct tape? I hate to brake it to you, _onii-chan_, but it's already been invented."

"Actually, this is part of an experiment," Tadashi corrected him.

He pushed up the jacket sleeve of Hiro's right forearm and stamped the tape in place.

"Now don't scream."

After he said this, his left hand held a firm grip on the tape and he jerked it right off, pulling out six follicles of arm hair and leaving a light red burn that caused Hiro to overreact.

"AH! _NANDE KUSO! _What was that for?!"

"This."

Tadashi gestured his left hand toward a red baggage like device. Out from the hold, an inflating sound was heard and with it came a very different and a very unusual sort of robot that Hiro had not seen before.

It was a squishy white plush-like figure that appeared to be over 75 inches high and 37 inches wide, with stout limbs, long arms with four fingers on each hand, black dot eyes connected by a line (supposedly the mouthpiece) and a small badge on the left side of its chest.

"I've been working on him for three months and two weeks straight," Tadashi told his guest and younger brother.

"How cute," Sora peeped.

The robot looked down and placed his right foot out from the container followed by his left. He looked up and waddled six steps towards Hiro like a penguin before bumping into a yellow stool. Even though it looked like the stool was out of his way, the robot grabbed it by the seat with both hands and rotated himself 90 degrees to the left. He put the stool down and continued to walk towards Hiro. Hiro was discomforted by this unusual creation, but behind him, Sora just wanted to squeeze the thing so tight that its head would come flying off.

Continuing to approach Hiro, the robot stopped and greeted the boy with a wave of his right hand.

"Hello, I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need of medical attention when you said 'ow'."

Tadashi stood behind the robot, proud and strong-hearted with his work, almost making hand gestures with the greeting as he mouthed the final word. Hiro was stunned.

"A robotic nurse?" he asked deniably.

A twelve inch screen appeared on Baymax's chest, displaying two rows of five different faces with a number underneath each one. The first five faces were a plain yellow, the number one displaying a grin, the second face a big smile, the third face a small smile, the fourth face was a wince and the fifth face was just a content facade. The three faces on the bottom row were orange, the last two being red, The sixth face was on the border of sad and happy, the seventh face was a frown, the eighth face was the same as number seven but with closed eyes, the ninth face was red with a tear going down the left eye and the tenth face's eyes were shut tight with grimacing teeth.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

Hiro's eyes were at half-mast, looking emotionless as he said, "Physical or emotional?"

Rather than just saying the word, Tadashi pouted in his own way of saying "emotion". Baymax interrupted his puppy dog eyes.

"I will scan you now."

He gave Hiro's forearm a onceover. Through his scanning system (colored a light blue from his viewpoint), which displayed the figure's outline and bone structure and the symptoms displayed in numbers. Hiro's blood pressure was at 113/90, his respiratory rate at 21, a blood oxygen level at 97 and a temperature rate of 98.

"Scan complete," the squishy fellow stated. The outline of the figure appeared on his chest, with the right forearm covered in blood red.

"You have a slight epidermal abrasion on your right forearm."

He lifted his right index finger upwards to reveal the nozzle of a mist sprayer.

"I suggest an anti-bacterial spray."

_I don't really think a spray is necessary. _Hiro thought. Out loud he asked out of curiosity as he tried to keep a smug face.

"Woah, woah, woah. What's in the spray specifically?"

A chemical structure with the word "Bacitracin" in a bold blue at the bottom appeared on Baymax's twelve inch screen.

"The primary ingredient is bacitracin," the plushy figure explained.

Hiro snapped his right fingers, still refusing to be treated like he was seriously wounded, when in fact he was not.

"It's a bummer. I'm actually allergic to that."

But with his scanning system at a universal potential, Baymax could see into the dark caverns of Hiro's mind, knowing that he lied.

"You are not allergic to bacitracin," the snowman robot went on. "However, you do have a mild allergy to…"

He paused, and Baymax held up his right index finger for the second time, before he uttered the word "peanuts".

The illusion broken, Hiro reluctantly exposed his forearm and Baymax pointed his index finger downwards as the spray of bacitracin dampened his arm for two seconds.

"Not bad," he said quietly. He turned to Tadashi, wanting to know more about Baymax's functions. "You have done some serious coding on this thing, haven't you?"

"Un-huh," Tadashi piqued. "In the three years that I have been here as a student and a robotics engineer, Baymax is my greatest creation."

He pressed his left index finger against Baymax's chest, the door sunk in, opened up and reveal four slots of a circular design. The only chip that could be seen was in the third slot and was office green with Tadashi's full name written in his own handwriting on top and in the center was a white smiley face wearing a pair of black stethoscopes in his ears and a head mirror to represent the archetypical image of a doctor.

"He is programed with almost 10,000 medical procedures, although I might add some more just for further accuracy," Tadashi observed the chip with proud eyes, his pupils fixed on his handwriting at this moment of the creator and the creation.

"This chip is the most important component that makes Baymax what he is. It's highly processed to act like a neurone synapse amplifier that can match this chip to an almost exact replica of the human brain wave, in layman's terms, it will make Baymax as humanly as possible to his patients. Without this chip, he won't be able to function."

Sora tried to take all of this in, trying not to let his earlier experiences with knowledge work against him.

"Anything more valuable about this chip?" he asked.

"Since Hiro has been spending more time alone, I thought that Baymax would make a perfect surrogate brother. Using ex-HYDRA technology and some notes of Dr. Arnim Zola's algorithm that he used to create an artificially intelligent user interface, I encoded my DNA and my mind in this chip, so that if anything were to happen to me, Hiro and I will always be together, even in death. To make a long story short, everything that is me, my intentions, my responsibilities, my memories and my intelligence are all safe and snug inside this chip as long as it doesn't break. He even speaks Japanese."

Hearing the name, Baymax repeated his greeting gesture in said language.

"_Konnichiwa, watashi wa Baymax._"

"If you need only one chip," Hiro said as he pushed in the chip back in. "Why do you have four slots?"

"I figured that after the annual showcase in a couple of weeks, I'll bring him home with me and I can work on three more chips for more-helpful things-like cooking and cleaning."

"And bot-fighting," murmured Hiro.

Tadashi was cross at the very mention. "_Hiro, wareware wa kono ni watatte ikimashita,_" he reprimanded his brother.

Hiro turned his head to Sora. "He says we went over this."

Sora, being a Japanese person himself, understood the context of Tadashi's words. "I understood that."

Curious than before, Hiro walked behind Baymax and tapped the rubbery location of his left shoulder blade two times.

"Vinyl?" he asked Tadashi.

"Yes, I'm going for a non-threatening, huggable design."

"I think he looks like a walking marshmallow," added Sora. It was then that he realized that his former childishness got the best of him. "No offense."

Baymax motioned his back by an inch.

"I cannot be offended."

By now, Hiro was looking to the black beady eyes of Baymax, who seemed to be unbothered by Hiro tapping his left eye twice.

"Hyperspectral cameras?" Hiro asked Tadashi as he grabbed Baymax's head with both hands.

"Yep," his brother said.

Hiro's eyes were at half-mast, trying to find a more closer observation, but all he could see was the night-black color of Baymax's innocent eyes. Letting go of the robot's head, he buried his face into Baymax's abdomen, his nose resembling a pig's nostrils from the pressure of the vinyl. He saw the mid-section of Baymax's skeleton, admiring it lovingly by the second. Four grey hydraulics made up the ribcage with red, yellow white and blue wires. Guides allowed the cables in his arms to move freely. Under the clavicle was a projector lens, the scapula in the back had no connection to the ribcage, his legs were connected by Lucite pelvic cover attaches and the pelvic wings at the rear of the pelvis were only attached to the rear and did not touch the joint in any way.

"Titanium skeleton," Hiro identified while Tadashi added, "Carbon fiber."

Hiro pressed his face further against Baymax's rubbery surface, realizing, "Right, even lighter than my other robots."

Hiro's face was even more compressed. "Where did you get these killer actuators?"

Tadashi hesitated in bringing up the resources for his _magnum opus _but he couldn't keep a secret from Hiro, so he said the truth.

"I have uh….connections. For the money I mean. As for most of Baymax's parts, I built them all right here. He can also lift a thousand pounds."

Hiro's expression was completely deadpan, but serious. "Well, I'll be god-dammed."

By now, Hiro's abrasion had faded away and Baymax leaned his upper body closer to thank the boy.

"You have been a good boy, have a lollipop."

In a lightning-fast move, he pulled out a cherry flavored lollipop from the palm of his right hand, the same flavor Tadashi had given Hiro all those years ago.

"Nice."

Taking in the memory, Hiro grabbed the lollipop in his right hand, removed the foil wrap and took a lick from the bottom.

"I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care," said the marshmallow.

"Well then," said Hiro after pulling the lollipop from his mouth. "I am satisfied with my care."

Baymax turned around and walked back to his luggage. As he did, Tadashi walked next to Hiro, who was holding the sugar-free lollipop in his mouth as if it were a cigarette.

"Baymax is going to change the world by helping a lot of people."

Tadashi's powerful words struck Sora's mind and heart with a kindred spirit. In a way, Sora felt that Baymax was just like him: selfless, caring and devoted.

Hiro changed the subject, "What kind of battery does he run on?"

"Lithium ion," Tadashi added.

"Super capacitors can charge more faster, you know."

Tadashi was inspired. "I think I'll just about do that."

But before the three males could start work, the door opened from behind and in the doorway were two of SFIT's greatest scientists.

"Burning the midnight oil, Mr. Hamada?"

The reply belonged to Dr. Robert Callaghan. He was a tall, somewhat elderly man with a generally warm appearance. With gray hair, wrinkles, blue eyes, an olive green sweatervest, a baby blue shirt with the sleeves pulled up, black trousers, brown shoes, a watch on his left wrist and slacks, he donned the appearance of a kindly grandfather. In fact, he felt like one to all of his current and former students, but Tadashi was the only one he could deeply sympathize with, given the young man's fatherless background. As the surrogate father Tadashi lost, they did more than just act as teacher and mentor during Hamada's student years: Shows at Club Ritz, movies about robotics and scientific discussions, experimenting with food at restaurants and reading the latest in _Discovery Channel Magazine_ for research. Like Tadashi, Robert's family was small though not as small as his other relatives, his wife had died of cancer six years ago and his daughter, a girl of 5'5 long black hair named Abigail, had long since disappeared three months prior. Robert left the details in the dark, calling his daughter's disappearance the most reckless thing she had ever done in her life. He also paid a visit to Culver University to introduce his revised laws of robotics to the entire student faculty when Jane Foster, Erik Selvig and Darcy Lewis, former nurse turned astrophysicist, scientist and intern student, decided to pay him a small fortune to create an advanced piece of equipment for Foster's research on the event of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. This "bridge" was infused with the Bifrost Bridge of Asgard, where they met the thunder god Thor Odinson in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico. All three had warmed up to the thunder god during his short lived banishment, and even Jane had to admit that she had romantic feelings for him, even if he was a god who came from another dimension.

The man on Callaghan's right was Diet Smith, the inventor of the two-way wrist radio and the two-way wrist TV. He had wild hair, a small chevron moustache, a brown suit with cream lapels and was a very health conscious millionaire. Diet's wife Irma was at first a disgruntled worker had had taken a liking to her employer when her plans to steal a shipment of lithium needed for a thousand more wrist radios went straight down the tubes. They had son named Brilliant, who was also a graduate of the Tech but never worked there unlike Tadashi, he had moved on to head his father's business at Diet Smith Industries in Emeryville. But it seemed to Brilliant that his father's biggest fault wasn't doing too little for his support of the San Fransokyo Police Department, but trying to do too much for his friendship with Dick Tracy.

A minute earlier, Callaghan and Smith had been discussing plans for a renovation on some of the older buildings, and the next minute they were overhearing Hiro and Tadashi's voices from outside the hall.

"Hello, professors," Tadashi greeted. "This is my younger brother Hiro and this our guest Sora."

Sora waved his right hand and greeted in a sweet "Hi!"

Callaghan extended his left index finger at Hiro. "I think I've heard about you, Hiro. You were at a bot fight last month near Broadway street in the property of old Bob Honor, am I right?"

"You mean Lips Manlis?" Hiro corrected. "He wasn't much of a prize, and what does a guy like you be hanging around bot fights for?"

"When my daughter Abigail was twelve, bot-fighting was all she wanted to do. But then I stepped in and said 'nope, not gonna do it anymore. It's illegal.' So she came here and I taught her everything that there is to know about robotics…before she disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Sora had overheard and was curious to know the juicy details.

"It's confidential," said Callaghan.

Diet Smith butted in for a slightly more detailed explanation.

"A simple event that has been only known to the public as a laboratory accident."

Callaghan noticed Megabot lying Hiro's left hand.

"May I hold it?" he asked while offering his right hand out to him.

"Sure."

Hiro surrendered Megabot over to Callaghan, and he studied the robot with great detail in all five of the magnetic joints.

"Magnetic-bearing servos."

Sora stepped outside.

"Cool isn't it?"

Hiro followed him.

"Want to see how I put them together?"

Before he could, Tadashi, who was still inside the office tapped the smart glass window adjacent to the left side of the door three times with his right hand and deactivated the frost mode, speaking to Hiro and Sora from outside as his voice resonated from the open door.

"Hey, genius. _He _invented them."

Carrying his ever so innocent look, he pointed his index finger in the direction of Callaghan just before the window went back to "frosted" mode. Hiro faced Callaghan and Smith with his lips on the verge of screaming to the world.

"You're Robert Callaghan…like the Callaghan-Catmull Spline and your revision of Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics?"

"Yes," the older man replied.

"And my name is Diet Smith of Diet Smith Industries," the other man said as he extended his right hand to shake Hiro's. "How do you do?"

"Have you ever thought of applying here?" Callaghan asked Hiro.

Sora, unsure if he was referring to the both of them, was the first to reply. "Well, I'm just a visitor, but if you-"

"I mean Hiro," Callaghan interrupted. "His age wouldn't be an issue."

"Of course," Diet suggested. "My son Brilliant was sixteen when he came here and now he's running the family business across the bay."

By this minute, Tadashi had shut off the electricity in his office.

"I don't know," he said in worried tone. "With all that seriousness in bot fighting, I'm afraid he's bound for the electric chair."

Hiro did not want to make Smith and Callaghan think that he was a full time criminal, so he followed after them while Sora went to retrieve Donald and Goofy in the laboratory.

Donald was close to Honey Lemon, who was working on another chemistry ball. This time it was painted purple and Donald was trying to make a move on the young woman.

"Care if I try tootsie?"

Goofy had been near Fred's workspace, curious at the silver boom box radio near his pile of comics. Switching on the play button with his right index finger, his ear drums were nearly popping out to the loud blares of The Summer Set's "Chelsea", which nearly sent Donald into Honey's arms and her back fell on the unelectrified rubber ball of purple spray glitter.

At that moment, Go Go came out from the restroom door, looking irritated as Wasabi and Fred followed her in different discussions.

"But, Leiko, I told you _five times _before going to the bathroom that soap is-"

Before Wasabi could mention any inappropriate uses of soap, like consuming it, Go Go stopped to see Honey's legs sticking out from the wall of her workspace with Donald's tail and webbed feet exposed as well. She scrunched up her face and glared, assuming that the two were having an affair. Fred rushed over to turn off his boom box while Go Go stomped her way to Honey's workspace and grabbed the duck by the back of his sailor suit.

"That's it! Party's over!"

And she performed a knife chop on Donald's bill, causing it to reverberate up and down.

"So! Dare to speak to me like that, you little wench!"

"Your goose is cooked, duck," Go Go cracked and held out a five-eighth wrench, swinging left and right five times at the hapless duck as Donald dodged her attacks. Sora rushed in and broke up the fight by holding Go Go back by her shoulders.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't hurt my friend!"

Go Go just bopped his forehead with the wrench.

"Shove it, spiky," she hissed. "You're nothing but a big cunt."

Honey heard this, and Fred was next to her, smoothing Goofy's ear from the loud blasting of his boom box.

"_She'd better not speak to that boy like that again,_" she muttered offensively in her Spanish.

"So what have you been doing in here?" Sora asked Donald.

"Nothing," the duck peeped.

"Other than making eyes at Honey, I hope not," Go Go was still glaring and she helped Sora to his feet in a simple act of charity with a sick tone in her voice. "Now take your pets and get out."

"Okay."

Sora cowered at Go Go's aggressiveness and as he left for the door, Wasabi and Fred waved goodbye while Honey just tilted her head by three degrees, smiling innocently at the duck who tried to make eyes with her.

Outside, they met Tadashi and Hiro by the Vespa. The older Hamada was already on the bike, while the younger was just pacing back and forth or just staring directly at the lab from the eighth step of the main staircase, absorbing every last detail and consequence of this marvelous and creative sort of school.

"Come on, genius, you wanna go home, or are you still wanting to go that bot-fight you were talking about earlier?"

Hiro flipped himself around, placing his left hand against his forehead in distress. "No, Tadashi, you were right. Bot-fighting _is_ bad and after everything I've seen just now, I _have _to go here. If I don't go to this nerd school, I will go completely _insane!_ But how do I get in? Work my way up with tuition money?"

"There is a faster way," Tadashi smiled in a successful, heroic pose. He knew that Hiro would fall head over heels with the Tech and everything else that it had to offer. After Hiro hopped onto the Vespa and drove for home with Tadashi leading the way, Sora, Donald and Goofy arrived just in time to see the Hamada brothers leaving through the gate.

"I'll call a taxi," Donald suggested.

And they did, though it was Goofy who had been sticking his right thumb out like a hitchhiker as he was close to Sora as being the tallest member of the trio.

* * *

><p>At 3:00 PM the very next day, Tadashi found the wide poster he was looking for from the school news bulletin and planned on showing it to Hiro as soon as he got home. All the fourteen year old could think about was that "nerd school", so much that he lacked sleep until one in the morning. The trip had accelerated the wheels of his mind to a deficiency in caffeine, and the voices in his head were chanting "Go to nerd school, go to that beautiful institute of science".<p>

He couldn't even bother to tell Aunt Cass about his visit, since she was already fast asleep by the time they got back. Tadashi couldn't bother with her either, since he preferred to have her work for money over socialism, something he thought as a waste of time for the hard working citizens of San Fransokyo like himself (despite a few occasions where he would just stop to smell the roses).

"So what have you got?" Hiro asked his older brother when he came in with the poster in his right hand.

"The key to getting in," Tadashi explained, and he went to get a black stapler from his bedside table. With no other room to place it along the walls, he was determined to get bot-fighting out of Hiro's blood system by stapling it over bot-fighting poster directly above Hiro's head: a grey manga piece of artwork with violent red lettering and displaying a taller robot impaling a much smaller bot with its right arm. Within four seconds, the majority of the poster was obscured by the advertisement Tadashi had obtained: "San Fransokyo Institute of Technology" written in white against a green stripe, "SFIT Showcase" against a dark blue background featuring a nebula and a gear. The left area was all white, with the logo on the top, "Call for entries" and "For more information please visit .edu" typed in a bold cerulean on the bottom. Hiro was sitting in his black swivel chair, posed like the thinker he was with his right hand placed on his chin.

"Every July 10th, the school hosts a student showcase," Tadashi explained. "If you come up with something that blows Callaghan away, you're in."

"I know," said Hiro, remembering his previous visits to the showcase hall. "You took me there for every six years before we decided to grow up and act mature."

"I was just reminding you," Tadashi continued. "But your invention has to be as great as Baymax."

Hiro looked at the poster of his dreams, and checked the date from the calendar on his computer. The showcase was only fourteen days away, and with his amount of IQ and confidence to define against the odds, all he had to do was to believe in himself.

"Trust me," Hiro moved the chair closer to the computer monitor. "It will be."

"If you want I can help you," Tadashi called from his side of the room.

"I'll be fine," Hiro assured him.

Switching on the boom box radio to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" at a volume of 20 decibels, he locked his fingers together and cracked the joints. He quickly got out his indigo covered notebook from the top drawer on the right hand side of the computer and a yellow pencil from an ultisol colored cup. He sharpened the pencil for five seconds and observed it in between his eyes as if it were a mighty sword, worthy and honorable of serving the Bushido. He opened up to the first page of his so-far unused notebook and started to draw a remote controlled kaiju robot that reminded him of Fred. The result was blocky with teeth in the torso and big anime eyes for the head.

Tadashi on the other hand, was thinking of his own idea for Hiro to create: a cleaning robot with eyes that resembled Baymax's down to the line that connected them in-between to represent the mouthpiece as he listened to the less wild sound of Breathless Mahoney's cover of "Stuck on You" from the earplugs of his Walkman. It would have two stout arms and a container for storing garbage, which could be dumped out from behind into the waste bin. When he showed the design to Hiro, all he could say was, "Boooorrrrinnnnnning."

Even though he thought that _onii-chan's_ inventions were always exciting, Hiro had to agree (in his own opinion) that some of Tadashi's ideas were not that great. He just crumpled the sketch onto the table along with the kaiju robot, thinking that the blocky nature was too "archetypical" (and it was).

An hour later, Hiro sketched his next idea to Tadashi: a fire breathing dragon robot with a can of N2O for non-flammable purposes. It would have to be made from fireproof steel to keep the robot itself from catching fire.

"It could light up fireplaces and candles and just be supercool!" Hiro exclaimed, but Tadashi wasn't into it.

"It could also cause a _disaster,_" he enunciated. "That thing it just too dangerous for the sake of the community."

Hiro had already crumpled up the design when Tadashi came up with the sketch for another robot that could save on energy. As if it were a trademark, the head featured Baymax's nondescript face and looked like a child's interpretation of an alien, with antennas on the head and an almost skeletal body.

"This one could turn off all of the electrical equipment that isn't being used."

But for the second time, Hiro was unamused.

"Do we live in a world where light switches were never invented?"

"Of course we do, just not _all the time._"

Hiro just swiped the sketch from Tadashi's hands, folded it and threw it in the waste bin. He was thinking of scoring ten points ahead of his brother's leaden ideas with a super-sushi chef robot for special nights at the Lucky Cat downstairs, each one with a kitchen knife for a hand. The robot chef would also have purple armor of ancient times, yellow eyes and a red bandana to emulate the common headwear of human sushi chefs.

"This one could feed us _and _put on a show at the same time," Hiro countered.

Unlike his previous counter-comments, Tadashi's answer was serious-and cold.

"That thing is a killing machine. Someone could _die _from those knife throws if they aren't handled professionally."

Hiro sensed that he was, for once in his recent years, fighting a losing battle with his brother and after three hours of brainstorming, was faced with almost fifty ideas, scrapped, discarded and crumpled into origami shapes, three of them lying on the floor. He was pounding his forehead on the front of the desk at each word with punctuation of defeat.

"Nothing! _Useless! EMPTY! _BAKA! CHI KI SHO! _BRAIN!_"

Tadashi, who had left all the brainstorming to Hiro's devices, was sitting in his bed, right leg extended and left knee in a squat position, reading the eighty third page of _Gone with the Wind _by Margaret Mitchell, in the scene where Rhett Butler met Scarlett O'Hara for the very first time, albeit in passing. He had already changed into a white shirt and green plaid trousers (it was already 7:30 in the evening) and was glad to see Hiro finally putting some effort into his mind for the purpose of good, but not so much with his tirade of headdesking his prefrontal cortex to the deficiency of a cerebral damage.

"Wow, washed up at fourteen. So sad."

Hiro jerked his head upwards, almost insulted by the comment.

"Less sarcasm, more helping!" he shouted.

"Why should I care?" Tadashi spoke, his voice still in a smug, sadistic tone of sarcasm. "It's your invention, not mine. All those other ideas I gave you were simply brain teasers. You'll never reach your potential if you keep tagging along behind me."

_You are such a bastard. _Hiro slumped backwards in his chair.

"I have already lost my potential! I'm _never_, repeat, NEVER getting into that school."

He concealed his face in the palm of his left hand with ignominy.

"What's the use? I'm at a dead end."

Just as he was ready to give up his dreams of putting his brilliant mind to the test (as well as his own life, if not just going to back to hustling bot-fights), Tadashi made his presence known. He jerked Hiro's chair from behind with his own right hand and turned it around to face Hiro eye-to-eye with a staid expression that matched his reply.

"Don't be stupid, Hiro. There are no dead ends…because I am not going to give up on you."

Tadashi knew that one essence of Hiro not coming up with an idea from scratch was due to his ability of miniaturizing and building off of others' inventions and capabilities, so without warning, he grabbed Hiro's legs, pulled him off the chair and hung him from behind with Hiro's popliteal fossa on his shoulders like a backpack in a reverse frankensteiner. He often used this whenever Hiro was at an existential crisis, while Hiro himself just hated the treatment of an inversion therapy, especially since he had to be hanging from his brother's shoulders.

Tadashi danced around in 360 degree turn and shook Hiro left and right seven times over before slightly rattling him like a car riding on an incomplete road of asphalt.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Hiro shrieked as if he had not done this before. He felt like he was going to upchuck at any moment or perhaps suffer a headache with a tumor on his forehead the size of a goose egg, should Tadashi drop him with a hard blow to his intelligence.

"Shake things up!" Tadashi encouraged. "Use that big brain of yours to think your way out of that dead end!"

_Oh my God, not this again_, Hiro suddenly remembered, and as Tadashi added his own catchphrase "Look for a new angle," his eyes were on Megabot, lying on its end as it was on the last bot-fight he had gone to. Taking in Tadashi's slogan, Hiro tilted his head forty degrees to the right and it was the shape, size and ability of Megabot that inspired the one thing that would appease Tadashi with the sole purpose of preventing disasters and saving the lives of innocents like the superhero he saw his _nii-chan _as. The name popped into his head immediately as his brain cells flowed with wanton velocity: microbot.

* * *

><p>With only thirteen days left to spare, Hiro opened up the door to Aunt Cass' garage, which she helped to set up so that the brothers could work there without any noise from construction causing any problems for her. It was actually made to serve as Tadashi's secondary laboratory where he could do homework and extra time from SFIT. After Tadashi was given the position of an official robotics engineer at the school, Hiro got to use the garage as well, which was equipped with a widescreen computer, a 3D printer, a television set, a radio, three workbenches, boxes, hydraulics, wheels, drills, placards of bot-fights, toolsets, wires and plugs for multitasking. He set Megabot on the work bench in the far end of the room and set to work.<p>

As of then, on that very first day, he re-studied the workings of Megabot and his magnetic joints on his computer and designed a headband to function his new microbots in a fully operational matter through pre-existing neural interface technology. By themselves, these microbots would be futile to operate, but when held together, they would create a swarm and acquire the ability to transform into any image directly crafted from the wearer's mind, including a mallet, a robotic excavator, a skateboard, a boxing glove, an infinite ladder, walking legs, an army glove, a motorcycle helmet, a motor fan and a limitless set of stairs. Hiro hoped that his new creations would not only help people, but also would make their jobs a lot easier than ever. Such opportunities would include building bridges, taking less time in the construction of buildings through assembling the right pieces as well as forming prosthetic legs for the disabled. He would have loved to form giant fighting bots out of them to take down the other bot-fighting champions in seconds, but Tadashi's threat of sending him to juvenile hall made him think otherwise. As a result, Hiro knew that the microbots would have their limits, they would never be used for brushing Mochi, cleaning his laundry or even doing his homework.

By sunset, he decided to begin work on the headband first and the microbots later. Aunt Cass had given him a warm meal of steak and potatoes to keep his strength up through the night until midnight had arrived. On the second day, after a break of playing with a red light to entertain Mochi, Hiro worked on his desk to start the basis of the headband all through the morning and Cass had served him a hamburger and mashed potatoes for lunch, announcing it in sing-song. Cass had been looking forward to seeing Hiro attend the institute in Tadashi's footsteps and broke no sweat in doing the pre-occupied Hiro's chores of keeping his room in a neat and tidy status.

"You must be obsessed in wanting to go there," Cass said to her nephew.

"I'd prefer the term 'devoted'," Hiro replied without a direct eye-contact.

"I see," Cass observed carefully. "You are starting to become more and more like your brother every day since that night."

"You mean from the bot-fight?" Hiro directly asked her. "I've learned my lesson. Tadashi actually opened my eyes to a world beyond all of that."

"You mean like a good one?"

"Yes….something like 'using your head for the good of others'."

Cass smiled and she left Hiro to resume his work. He had taken a small ring of stainless steel cables from the six rolls that hung from a black metal rack on the left side of the garage. He continued to use them all throughout the night for his headband and Tadashi was pleased with his progress so much that he ordered a box of six pepperoni slices from Haight Pizza and gobbled it all down as Hiro continued to work on the computer without stopping. Then, an hour later, Tadashi had already gone to sleep and Hiro followed him shortly after.

By morning on the third day, Hiro started actual work on the microbots, which were no more than the size of Thumbelina (about four inches tall to be precise). Clad in his pajamas of a white shirt and blue plaid shorts from working all through the night, he searched his tool box for a means to multiply the microbots from the core master copy and had a can of Red-Bull to accelerate his working strengths instead of coffee, which he knew had the right amount of caffeine that he needed to hasten the project, but anathematized the taste. Knowing that he would need a total of two million nanobots, he borrowed a blue recycle bin from across the street and went on to build 100 more microbots from the 3D printer. He proceeded to work through the night, wielding the magnetic joints of the microbots together in order for them to function as a tight-knit group as he recalculated Megabot's limbs and borrowed two more recycle bins from the corner of the café.

Sparing no expense with his earnings from the bot-fights he won (along with half of the money going to the Lucky Cat), Hiro, exhausted from the work that had forced him to stay up all night, slept through the entirety of the fourth day, still clad in pajamas and he was still in a coma by the morning of the fifth day. Tadashi didn't bother to wake him up, and during his own spare time, he decided to take Hiro's advice by replacing Baymax's lithium ion battery with super capacitors and updating Baymax's databanks with three more health procedures, like anti-smoking campaigns, proper itinerary of a blood vessel and being cautious with sharp objects such as scissors or glass fragments. At nightfall, Hiro had been sleeping on the swivel chair to his computer in a crooked position and the weight of the right side of his body hanging from the chair pulled him down and the impact of the rear of his head striking the floor set him back to work by 8:41 PM. He designed the microbots to work into a square shape that was the size of a Nintendo DS before turning it into a box.

On the morning of the sixth day, Mochi wanted to play ball with Hiro, but had decided to a cat-nap on the third recycle bin, not bothering Hiro at all as the genius switched to his normal outfit and bought a fourth bin for the extra amount of microbots. At 5:00 PM, he decided to entertain Mochi with a game of cops and robbers using a remote control SWAT van to depict the getaway vehicle, but the bobtail would not leave the bin until Tadashi came home with Sora, Donald, Goofy, his team from the lab and threw a pizza party to celebrate Hiro's progress. Sora, who had booked room 201 at the Hyatt Regency in Embarcadero, kept in touch with Tadashi while visiting the institute and the elder Hamada was kind enough to give Sora his address and by the time he arrived at the garage with Donald and Goofy, Wasabi was nitpicking at his slice of pepperoni while Fred was covering his face within in his own slice. Honey was socializing with the brothers and Go Go looked disgusted to see Fred lying lifeless in a sea of cheese and crust. They told jokes and riddles about their nicknames, Tadashi and Hiro fought over the last slice of pizza, Sora and the girls watched _Legally Blonde_ on DVD, Donald and Goofy played hangman and Fred had been choking on a large piece of anchovy while Wasabi pulled a Heimlich maneuver on him. The piece of anchovy came shooting right out of his mouth and landed in the middle of Haight Street's jet black pavement and was run over by a moving van. Tadashi decided to increase Hiro's research and energy with additional materials and possible inspiration for microbot forms.

"All the same, we could use some spare parts to help speed things along the way," were the words he said.

On the seventh day, they went to a junkyard in Bernal Heights and they found all sorts of pieces that could be made useful again. The junkyard was owned and run by Bob Oscar Plenty, his silver haired wife and ex-convict Gravel Gertie and their three year old daughter Sparkle. B.O. was a hillbilly from a close-knit Ohio family who was thin with wary black hair and an unkempt beard. Habitually, he wore a red pit helmet, a black vest, and white sleeve garters. Until he was twenty four, B.O. and his twin brother Goodin ran a gas station further west of Ohio in a Podunk town and had saved up enough money to own a vegetable farm in the more rural areas outside of San Fransokyo for thirty years. With his savings, B.O. came to work for Diet Smith as a groundskeeper and he even helped Dick Tracy when a partner of Smith had been electrocuted by a crazed Irma over the top secret creation of the two-way wrist radio. After the case had been solved, B.O. moved back to his farm and caught the eye of Gravel Gertie, a small time convict known for playing the mandolin and a loud singing voice that critics just simply called "not music to my ears." As she moved into a cottage across the road from B.O.'s farm, he and Gertie were at odds, calling each other the most ugliest human beings that ever walked the earth and after taking in the cruel remark, B.O. had seen what a kind woman she was and Gertie returned the favor. A month later, they were married in the vegetable field with over one hundred and fifty people attending, including the Hamadas. Disk jockey Ted Tellum broadcasted the scene nationwide on television, radio and online networks like it was the biggest wedding of the century since Prince William and Catherine Middleton tied the knot in Westminster Abbey. Nine months later, Sparkle was born and to their surprise, the girl was so beautiful that they spoiled her with enough money to satisfy their needs, which led B.O. to purchase the junkyard for extra money. He had been hoping to modernize it with robots to replace the outdated crusher.

"Morning, youngin's," B.O. greeted the brothers as they entered the gate. "What can I do for you today?"

"We're just here for some parts for the showcase," Tadashi explained.

"The one at the institute?" B.O. chuckled. "I'm not sure about any parts specifically, but you can take a gander at we've got in stock."

He gestured his left hand towards the pile of salvage parts, from the corner of his right eye he could see Gertie trying to adjust Sparkle's feet with the new Mary Jane shoes she bought for $7.33.

"Gertie!" B.O. called to his wife. "We have guests! Hurry up!"

After Sparkle's new shoes had proven to be comfortable for her tiny feet, Gertie and the toddler came over to the teenagers, hand in hand with a warm greeting.

"Hello, Tadashi, hello, Hiro. Who're the new fellers?"

"These are my classmates," Tadashi gestured back to them.

"I'm Sora. He's Donald and that's Goofy."

The spiky haired man felt odd at seeing such people, among his other visits. But he could not judge anyone by appearance, so he continued to remain silent.

"They've come for some parts for that showcase at the school or somethin'," said B.O.

Sparkle, having learned how to speak since she was two and already improving on her vocabulary, cautioned the party of nine with a simple instruction.

"Well, you can have whatever you like and don't try to get my new shoes dirty, okay?"

The friends agreed and they set to work while the Plentys went out to lunch at Izzy's Steaks & Chops on Steiner Street to keep Sparkle's new shoes in pristine condition. The whole yard was enough to salvage for $250,000.

Tadashi found what could have belonged to the turbine of a jet plane, but Hiro didn't think it would make a useful shape for the microbots. Fred, as lazy as he was, didn't participate at all; he just sat there in a shopping cart reading Captain America and eating a blue bag of Doritos, not showing any sign of interest into the parts and was more interested in socializing with his pals. Honey Lemon took a selfie in front of two oil cans filled with purple and green colored liquids of carbon dioxide, her obsession with explosives and chemistry had completely distracted her in the form of "art". With only her wielding mask to protect her eyes from dust particles, Go Go spent much of her time looking through parts, most of them belonging to cars and motorcycles, when she came upon a yellow moped with a dual tone of orange, thinking that a motorbike made from microbots would suit her needs. Wasabi, his mouth covered with a procedure mask and hands equipped with his rubber gloves, was in the process of drenching an electronic memory board with a can of Lysol disinfectant spray and he continued to do this on practically any piece of scrap that his rubber coated fingers had made contact with. Hiro found the best piece of all: an armed claw that could only have originated from the assembly line of a modernized factory. Donald and Goofy played Marco Polo under the trash cans and Sora could not find anything that he thought Hiro would like given his lack of knowledge in electronics. (He did enter an arcade game called _Space Paranoid_s several times in the past, but robotics was only a similar topic relating to computers). However, before it was time to leave, Sora _did _find a button cell battery near the gate, which he later told Hiro that it would make a great power source for the microbots.

"The headband is all I need. Unlike most robots, these microbots have unlimited power," were his words.

Sora decided to give Hiro the battery anyway as an additional resource for future usage.

It was sundown when Tadashi's friends dropped him and Hiro back at the Lucky Cat. They also took Sora, Donald and Goofy back to the hotel in Wasabi's 1998 Mitsubishi Minica Toppo without running into heavy traffic. In no time at all, Hiro had enough materials hasten his work on the microbots, but he was too overheated and entirely exhausted from a day of outside exposure to lift a finger, so he sat on the couch (upside down to emulate Tadashi's frankenstiener) and went to sleep with only the glowing essence of the computer monitor, a lamp and a lightbulb above him. Bringing a soft light to his surroundings as the night went by in a flash, when in reality, it was only nine hours before he woke up to see that the eight day had passed him by.

The morning of the ninth day had come, and Hiro was still sleeping from a period of thirty four hours. Aunt Cass and Tadashi thought it wise to let Hiro get his rest, and before they knew it, Hiro was already up and about by 4:00 PM. He had already bought another recycle bin and he was wielding another 600 microbots together with his new tools and objects of inspiration from the junkyard. When the tenth day arrived, Tadashi's research team and Sora came over to see Hiro working on the last batch of microbots on his computer. Fred, wearing a sapphire colored version of his shirt, sat on the seventh bin reading about the memoirs of Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow and _Flashpoint_, a major storyline in the history of the DC Universe and it was so sacred to Fred that he wanted to capture every detail of the New 52's origins for three hours and thirty three minutes. Later on, Fred decided to play hide and seek in the bins with Donald and Goofy before they were occupied by a third half of the new microbots. They stayed until 7:25, by which Hiro had been sleeping on the couch. The movie he had been playing on his television set, _The Iron Giant_, was already finished.

"He's so cute the way he sleeps," Honey giggled.

She tried not to laugh out loud, covering her mouth with her left hand as the others minded their own business. Tadashi went to get the core microbot from the workbench, allowing his friends a chance to see the finished product.

"Don't tell him I've shown you, but this is what he has been working on."

In his left hand was the core microbot, it was black with two hexagonal shaped thimbles held together by a round joint. Wasabi and Go Go were unimpressed by the inferior size and look of the object, but Fred, Goofy, Donald and Sora were impressed by the detail.

"Really?" Go Go fumed with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Did he work on that little thing for ten days straight?"

"Exactly," Tadashi replied kindly.

"So what exactly is it?" asked Wasabi, squinting his eyes at the miniscule bot.

Tadashi pointed to the filled amount of microbots in the first bin.

"These are microbots. They are held together by a neurotransmitter and whoever wears the headband can command the Microbots to respond by a thought or a mental image. They are designed to work at a high efficiency even if they are not commanded by the controller."

Sora was interested in such things that seemed revolutionary, especially if it was a vintage model of technology. So he asked Tadashi, "Can I try it?"

Fred stepped in front of him.

"Actually, _I'm _more of an expert on these braincontrol things. So _I _should be the first to try."

"Each of you will have a turn," Tadashi told them, and he looked over from behind to see if the headband was on the workbench or in one of the drawers, when in fact it was neither in any of those locations.

_Where did Hiro put that headband? _As if he did not realize it, Tadashi felt his left hand vibrating in a lenient buzzing sound, but he was not doing it on his own free will. Opening up the palm of his hand, he saw the core microbot zipping about like a fire ant and Tadashi had come to realize that Hiro had left the headband on while he was wearing it.

"Oh shit," he whispered to himself, then he turned back and saw that rest of the microbots from the already filled six bins were forming the shape of a six-fingered hand rising upwards to reach the ceiling.

"Is that normal?" Wasabi panicked once he saw the hand.

"Doesn't look normal to me," Goofy was the second to notice.

"My brother is doing that," Tadashi explained. "He's still wearing the transmitter. Which means that the microbots are reacting to his subconscious thoughts while he is asleep. And he's probably dreaming about a fight."

The microbots by now had reached the ceiling, forming an arm with clenched fist that was threatening to crush the victims to death. To Tadashi's friends, they were in a real life supernatural horror film, to Sora it was like a Heartless, which had become an endangered species following the defeat of Xehanort, while Tadashi was convinced that Hiro had still not gotten over his obsession with bot-fighting and all he could do was scream.

"RUN!"

The teens ran outside while Sora summoned his Keyblade and tried to tame Hiro's boisterous mind, while Donald whipped his mage's staff in front of the fist and Goofy tried to deflect the oncoming blow with his shield.

"Why are they attacking us?" Wasabi whimpered as they viewed the battle from the left side of the garage door.

"Cause they think we're the enemies!" Fred hushed him in an excited tone.

"Remind you of anything?" Honey asked Go Go.

Go Go could see that the solid nature of the microbots reminded her of her bellicose attitude, and she enjoyed it as much she liked to see someone like Sora putting up a good fight as he plunged the Keyblade into the middle fingers of the fist.

Then she suggested something else.

"HIRO!" she called within hearing range.

"It's no use, Go Go," Tadashi disappointed her. "He's a heavy sleeper."

Honey looked at the hand, it was closing in on them and Sora was losing the battle as the hand was pushing him down. Any further and he would fall to the floor, broken with defeat.

"Dead in the prime of my life!" Fred whimpered quietly to himself. "At least I want to die in my Megazon shirt."

The very thing that Honey knew how to use as a weapon of self-defense was her yellow colored handbag, which was embroidered with a zigzagged design of dark red lining in the bag area at the bottom to the fold over closure. She swung the bag at Hiro's head, knowing that she had one chance to succeed, and with enough pendulum to correct the balance of the swing, smacked his crown.

The lids of Hiro's eyes opened halfway through the process of gaining his consciousness and the arm was instantly dematerializing as Sora held the Keyblade behind his back and collided the teeth with the shrinking fist all the way down to the floor.

"Wow, I must have fallen asleep," Hiro yawned.

He saw the fallen microbots scattered across the floor and wondered if an earthquake had knocked the bins open. But after his left hand was feeling his forehead for any signs of dizziness, Hiro realized that he was wearing the headband. He had been planning to experiment it on the current microbots by creating a perfect swarm maneuver to qualify the standards of the showcase. Unfortunately, his fatigue and lack of strength from the day's hardships had caused him to doze off before he could test them and the witnesses were glancing at him with awkward expressions.

Wasabi was the first to give a sigh of relief. "Glad that's over."

Go Go felt his left arm using her body for support. "Tell me about it."

Sora, Donald and Goofy dismissed their weapons as Hiro removed the headband, trying to reason with his new friends and completely oblivious as to what happened over the last thirty seven seconds.

"I was just wanting to test them out and I-guess I forgot. You want to see it?"

Go Go, Wasabi, Honey and Fred looked at each other, quickly coming to the conclusion that once was enough. So they left for Wasabi's van with Sora and his animal pals behind them.

"Sorry, bro. But I think I left the microwave on," Wasabi fibbed. "Unless if my parents have already done it, but that's _my _responsibility."

"I'm out!" Go Go informed the brothers.

Honey turned back and apologized to Hiro with a comforting sweetness.

"Maybe you should save it for the showcase, Hiro. But it was good to see you!"

Fred said nothing, he walked after Honey and let her take the backseat like a true gentleman. Sora, on the other hand, thought that a good night's worth of exercise by walking back to the Hyatt would be refreshing after a short fight with an arm made of microbots. He told Wasabi that they would find their way back and they headed down to walk for a 2.8 mile length of Market Street. Donald complained all the way after his feet were growing tried and Goofy was the one to suggest a trolley, but Sora was not the one to give up. When they reached the lobby, the three amigos collapsed on a bench and a bellboy whisked them off to their rooms on a cart.

Back at the garage, Tadashi told Hiro about the microbots and had advised him to use the headband more wisely in the future. Hiro was glad that his presentation wasn't spoiled (as only eight people excluding himself were present), but he felt disappointed, confessing to Tadashi that he had tried so hard to get his formative days of bot-fighting out of his bloodstream.

"All I just wanted to do was to show them my invention."

Tadashi ruffled his brother's hair.

"Believe me, _otouto…_you did and it was a great success!"

Motivated by his brother's words, Hiro continued to finish the last batch of microbots. He searched through more of his tools all through the eleventh day and bought himself another bin for a third of the final lot. Then he bought another by the morning of the twelfth day after an arm wrestling match with a robotic arm while finishing up on the two millionth and final microbot. He programmed the bots to create a hand shape on the computer, this one being more solid than the wavy shape he had conjured up two nights ago. At nightfall, he checked the computer to see that the showcase was tomorrow night and was ready to fill the last set of microbots into another bin that he had been saving for later.

Altogether, he had twelve recycle bins containing over ten thousand of the two million microbots. Tadashi came over, and Hiro had pleased his brother by showing him the amount of microbots in the bin placed in the center of the front row. Satisfied, he lifted his right hand into a fist and Hiro did the same with his left. The two brothers clashed their fists together and imitated a sound effect that might have been an exploding whistle. This fist bump was their own way of articulating excitement over a great achievement that they had just completed after a certain time of labor that was no longer than a whole week. Despite his lack of rest, Hiro wasn't just ready to go to bed yet, he was too excited for the showcase and Tadashi remained calm as a means of giving his brother a good impression of how polite he was underneath his brash exterior. So after three hours, the lights in the Lucky Cat Café were turned off and diminished in the darkness, with no sound other than the snoring trio of a very proud family of geniuses.

Hiro slept soundly that night and looked forward to a new life with his brother Tadashi at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.


	4. The Apparatus

Meanwhile, in the scarlet painted conference room located on the third floor of the Club Ritz, sat an imposing figure of crime and disorder at the front end of a large red fiberglass table, smoking on a cigar and munching on walnuts. He wore a red double-breasted suit with black pinstripes, a dark burgundy checkered necktie, had greasy black hair, a facial mole near his left eye and a thin mustache as well as a nose, hands and cheek bones that were as big as his street name: Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice.

Big Boy was the kingpin of a syndicated crime organization known only as "The Apparatus", who had been stuck in the Alcatraz Island Penitentiary with a bunch of pedophiles and petty criminals for almost two years. Two. Whole. Years. He couldn't even find a good lawyer like Hy Habeas or Danny Supeena to take his case. But after all, what was the big deal? All he did was have his men murder some guy named Emil Trueheart just because he was a little "tight with his money" and then kidnapped his daughter so that he could use her for a payroll robbery-among other past offences. Anyway, under the company of his associates Giorgio Spaldoni and Ribs Mocco, Big Boy's lifestyle of easy living had turned into a living nightmare. He couldn't bathe; he couldn't smoke cigarettes or have an expensive drink, his meals were the infamous diet of bread and water, and the recreational activities were so scarce that Big Boy's obesity had emaciated over time and he came out of his cell looking like a real Robert De Niro while his cellmates received a lighter treatment of custodial duties for just simply "following orders".

Even though he was ashamed that everything had been taken away from him, Big Boy was glad to have gotten out of prison fair and square because of his ailing health, which in the process cut his five year sentence short by two. Never once did he try to escape from his hell on earth. One night, another associate of his, Tony the Bomber, had purposely lit his cell on fire with a small bottle of kerosene and a single match that he had secretly kept hidden from the maximum security in his untidy pockets. He spilled some of it on his bed and splattered the rest of it all over the walls, burning the bed to a crisp and shorting the electrical circuits embedded inside the walls. When the fire brigade arrived, Tony tried to escape. As soon as the door to his cell had opened, he stole a fireman's hat and coat and managed to succeed in getting as far as the front gates, but was shot dead by the tower guards when they caught him trying to climb up the electric fence that, surprisingly, had not been turned on for the evening thanks to the fire that destroyed the circuits from an outlet in his cell. "Very upsetting," mourned Big Boy when he heard the news. Now that he was out of the pen, he knew that somehow, someway, he would rebuild his empire from the ground up and exact revenge on the very plainclothes detective who made his life miserable: Dick Tracy.

After getting out of prison, the trio went their separate ways, Mocco and Spaldoni booked into a small hotel room while Big Boy moved in with his old friend Bob Honor aka Lips Manlis, the owner of the Club Ritz. He had short dark hair, a receding mustache, a slightly heavy set body, was always seen wearing a tuxedo and was named for his moniker because of his wide, distinctive mouth and huge lips that made him look like he had the face of a tuna fish. When he saw Big Boy's current state (commenting that he was as thin as a promise), Lips did whatever he could to get Big Boy back in shape. On weekends, they did boxing matches, on Wednesdays and Tuesdays they would have steak, potatoes, oysters and calamari (including chocolate malts and margaritas with high calories) and on half days on Mondays and Tuesdays, Big Boy would try to earn his keep for a month by cleaning the front window in the conference room, washing a few dishes, cooking the soup of the day, cleaning up Lips' favorite table and going out to purchase an extensive list of supplies from various grocers at a rapid pace. As though being lazy weren't enough, Big Boy had become a muscular figure with a hunchbacked neck while Lips was the one getting fat. Now here he was, watching his friend painting a Van Gogh style portrait of Breathless Mahoney, who stood perfectly still, wearing a white lace dress and positioned like a Roman goddess along with the club's piano player Clarence Keyes.

Clarence "88" Keyes had been a talented pianist ever since he was 8 years old when he played to the tune of _Row Row Your Boat _on his family's Steinway grand piano. As a teenager at the age of 18, he attempted to complete Schubert's Unfinished Symphony in front of his graduating class at the high school talent show and again at his ceremony, intent on replacing the considerably overused _Pomp and Circumstance _with the Schubert composition itself as the new walking march. As a matter of fact, 88 Keyes was so talented that he practically dropped out of college after two months of study to fulfill his dream of becoming a world-famous pianist. But he had to start somewhere, and the first place he looked up had been the newly opened Club Ritz, which was in need of a piano player, a singer and an orchestra for jam sessions. However, since Lips Manlis had spent most of his money on himself, Breathless and the club's taxes, 88's salary was terribly low and he had no choice but resort to Lips' criminal enterprise through a hire–for-kill gang led by singer Jinny Lynn to assassinate the millionaire A. B. Helmet at the request of his estranged wife. All of 88's accomplices were either killed or arrested by Dick Tracy and so was he, but he was let out to continue his piano career and was enamored by Breathless since they both shared a life of crime and entertainment as well as being extremely talented in the field of music. His handsome looks of dark blond hair and narrow eyes were concealed by his casual outfit of a light yellow newsboy cap with a baby blue checkered jacket and matching trousers, though he always wore a suit whenever he was present at the club.

Over the two years that had passed since his bail, Big Boy, claiming to have reformed, had hired several people from various departments to rebuild his organization under the promise of negotiable stocks and bonds for whatever their hearts desired. He made funds to his allies and took great offense to anyone who left the Apparatus as a turncoat. Recently, he been contacted through the club's e-mail address by a mysterious figure known only as a sympathetic spirit, promising him a life without Dick Tracy if he helped him to build the impossible: a teleportation device that could transport him to another dimension through the realms of time and space. Intrigued, Big Boy called up his old girlfriend Texie Garcia to arrange a meeting (or what some mobsters liked to call a "sit-down") to discuss the negotiations between this mysterious messenger and his objectives.

Lips made several positive compliments about the painting he had finished with a flick of the brush. The results were uncanny except for Breathless' hair, which looked a bit smudged like rainwater washing it away with the liquid of the sky.

"Doesn't it look nice?" he asked Big Boy.

Big Boy patted him on the back with his left hand. "Lips, my friend, _you _are an artist."

Lips smiled.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Big Boy went over to answer it. Whenever someone came uninvited, he would always ask the intruder with a password. If they knew the password, the intruder was free to be let in, but if he did not know the password or answered incorrectly, Big Boy would give the intruder two options: make like a tree and leave or get shot to death.

When Big Boy came to the door, he knocked back three times and gave the knocker his question.

"Password?"

"Eat lead."

He swung the door open and there stood his old moll, Texie Garcia.

Texie Garcia was one of San Fransokyo's fewest gunwomen and a prostitute with a taste for larceny. She wore a black floppy hat with a veil hanging in front of her face held by a red butterfly jewel, a black dress, a black fur stole made from a grizzly bear, red high heels, red lace gloves with black, red and grey squared bracelets, ruby earrings and was often seen carrying a red cigarette holder in her right hand. Additionally, she would fix her raven black hair in the style of Delores del Rio, a film actress long forgotten since the Golden Age of Hollywood. After Big Boy was sent to prison, Texie, who had been following orders and cleared of some criminal charges, moved in with fellow criminal Lorenzo Prunesti since Big Boy's assets including the nightclub that served as their hideout, were confiscated by the law. Despite his wife Ana Prunesti's dismay, Texie felt welcome and comfortable during her stay. She was relieved on the day that Big Boy got out of prison and had made arrangements for today's "board of directors" meeting. She greeted her old flame with a smile and a puff of secondhand smoke and he greeted her back with a bow and a gesture of the left hand to let her in.

"I bought them, just like you asked," said Texie to Big Boy with a soft tone in her voice.

"Wonderful! Have a seat next to me, Texie."

As Texie took her seat next to Big Boy's left hand side, along with her came twenty of the most gruesome and most bizarre criminals ever known to have walked the streets of San Fransokyo.

Floyd Jones was San Fransokyo's most recognizable crook and Dick Tracy's archenemy. He was nicknamed "Flattop" because of his distinctive hairstyle that was curled sideways at both ends and was flat on the top (hence his cognomen). In addition to his attire, which consisted of a violet sport coat, indigo trousers, a red bowtie, black shoes, black leather gloves and a clean white dress shirt with black buttons underneath the jacket, he had brown eyes, freckles on both sides of his cheeks and lips that were so puckered you might as well could have called him "The Big Smoocher". Born and raised in Cookson Hills, Oklahoma to his disowning parents, a church-going aunt and an abusive uncle who perceived his nephew as the family black sheep, Flattop carried Poptop Jones' legacy of violent hunting games by killing a federal agent in Kansas City with a single bullet to the chest and made his way to other parts of the country through the black market before coming to San Fransokyo. Nevertheless, Flattop and his short-tempered older brother Blowtop Jones (who was currently serving in prison) were known for being too trigger-happy with their machine guns, as evidenced by the taunting messages of "Eat Lead!" written in bullets they had often so left at the scene of a crime they committed (if they had a wall to write it on that is).

Itchell Oliver was a type of felon known to have a skin condition rather than a deformity. He was nicknamed "Itchy" because he always seemed to itch and scratch a lot. When armed, he would be holding a gun in one hand and in the other he would be scratching the back of his head, his chin, his torso or any other part of his body, even his privates. In addition to his primary outfit, which consisted of a bottle green suit and fedora with an orange necktie and a purple shirt (sometimes navy blue with a leopard spotted clip-on, a black shirt and a gold pin); he had blond curly hair, wore Coke-bottle glasses and spoke with a very nasal Bronx accent from his pursed-lips. Itchy sat in between his associates, on his right was Shaky Trembly, who was the stepfather of Breathless Mahoney, and on his left was Measles Enog, a 19 year old drug dealer who had dropped out of high school to be more closer with his mother Anna at the women's prison where she worked as a matron. Both of them had similar conditions as Itchy, only Shaky, true to his name, was mentally unstable and Measles had a pockmarked forehead as a result of acne.

Mumbles was a fast talking thief who had been a guitar player for the Mumbles Quartet some years ago. In fact, his speech was so indecipherable that it was difficult for anyone to understand him (which came with the common question "What did he say?"), though some like Flattop were able to translate for him. He liked to wear bowties and his wardrobe had a variety of colors, ranging from his natural hair color of chartreuse to a gooey royal purple. Needless to say, it would take no more than a cup of water to slow Mumbles' speech down.

Louise Brown, nicknamed "Crewy Lou" for her crew-cut hairstyle, was another accomplice of Flattop and at personal times, his girlfriend. In relation to the fact that her blonde hair extended all the way down to her shoulders, she had brown eyes that matched her surname, carried a small golden choker around her neck and wore a black peplum blouse with a white belt and a red skirt. Crewy first met Flattop when she participated in a sting operation at an Atlantic City steakhouse two years ago. She had been sent by her associate Sphinx to dispose of any incriminating evidence from an unauthorized dispute between the Atlantic Shipping Company and the New England Marine Corps that would have the employees fired for possessing illegal beverage. However, she didn't reckon on Flattop, who had been sent by his late superior Zola to kill the employees, should they refuse to cooperate without further persuasion. The plan was successful, and when Flattop first laid his eyes on Crewy shredding the evidence into a trash can, he was enamored by her good looks and her brutal strength, but she was too feisty to return the favor. It was only after he chased her across three cities, New York, Chicago and San Fransokyo where the trail ended, that Crewy had earned her trust in Flattop and two of them began a relationship of criminal activities, among her other hobbies which included professional photography, kidnapping of children and foolishly attempting to resist Flattop's advances.

The man known as Eislander sat in between Flattop and Mumbles smoking on a Cuban cigar. He was nicknamed "B-B Eyes" because of his small black eyes that matched the shape and dimension of BB bullets. In addition to his signature apparel, which consisted of a brown derby with a grey blue suit and an orange pinstriped shirt, his face looked like it had been run over by a truck. Along with the eyes, he had thin hair, battered pointy ears and three parallel scars from a cat attack that extended all the way down on the right side of his face from the temple to the chin. In his criminal career, B-B Eyes was a racketeer and a bootlegger whose gang capitalized on counterfeit car tires, alcoholic booze and pirated DVDs, all of whom were killed or arrested by Dick Tracy. He also had a distant brother named Jacques who faked his marriage to debutante Debby Thorndike to gain ownership of the Bird Club, a rival to the Club Ritz.

Johnny Ramm was a notorious gunman whose facial features seemed to be a carbon copy of Clark Gable, another actor from Hollywood's Golden Age. He was a semi-racist with a black suit, a mustard yellow necktie, a blue shirt with a beige handkerchief and an operative for the corrupt politician Mayor Chiang, who held a vendetta against San Fransokyo's long standing merger of eastern and western culture, believing that his ancestral country of China was superior in comparison to the rest of Asia. Using an alias ("Pete Reppoc") Dick Tracy went undercover as a member of Johnny's gang to put a stop to the corrupted politician and his agent. Johnny was thrown into the state penitentiary for three years, but somehow he escaped during Tony the Bomber's failed breakout attempt and went back to working at the restaurant he owned in Little Tokyo, but not before he left the restaurant under new management when Big Boy's meeting was announced on his social media wall.

Ribs Mocco was the former lieutenant of Big Boy and a member of the original Apparatus. He had a careworn face with a pointed nose, and wore a crimson bowler hat, a black coat, a checkered bowtie, a yellow cream shirt with a matching handkerchief in his left breast pocket, a purple vest, grey trousers and black and white Oxford shoes. For his own agenda that concerned his abuse of power, Ribs intended to double-cross Big Boy onboard the cruise ship _Alonia_ by putting three slugs into his mouth so that the Apparatus could be controlled by a much younger and more sensible subordinate. Unfortunately, Big Boy survived and Dick Tracy (posing as a drifter named Joe Smith) ambushed him and Big Boy with a serious beating and Spaldoni who had confessed Big Boy's recent actions to the police had already been found out by Pat Patton. And to make a long story short, all three of them were arrested for multiple charges of murder, robbery and the kidnapping of young Buddy Waldorf. "At least Texie doesn't care for stripes," Ribs commented as soon as he got out of jail. He didn't like the idea of occupying a cell that was two rows away from his boss and his lawyer, nor did he appreciate the relentless experience of being a hallway custodian.

Lorenzo Prunesti was a high ranking German-born spy whose ideologies were what some considered to be Neo-Nazi. He was christened "Pruneface" because of his wrinkled facial features from a bad skin defect of injury and disease. In some shades of lighting to fit his red and purple suits, his skin color appeared to be normal in brighter shades, but in darker shades his skin turned pale red, then purple like a real prune. His wife Mrs. Pruneface had similar features, only more skeletal with eyes that were sunken into their sockets with a non-existent nose and teeth so pointed; she would have been a vampire with a shrunken head. Pruneface (or "Boche" as he preferred to be called in public) had often supplied explosives to Big Boy and would test firebombs on a car, one of them being Big Boy's old Coupe de Ville. Big Boy had little concern for the destruction, given the fact that it was accidental, which led to his purchase of the Escalade and two spare cars for other reasons: an Audi R8 and a stolen red Toyota. Pruneface also supplied nerve gas and old fashioned firearms made new again, for he was certainly a weapons expert and a tough criminal of espionage intelligence. But despite this, his connections with Big Boy allowed Texie Garcia to stay with him during Big Boy's internment.

The man in the plaid green suit and fedora sitting next to Ribs Mocco was Pruneface's on-and-off partner in crime, Influence, whose face resembled the top half of a theatrical mask with prominent cheekbones, big nostrils and dark wavy hair (minus the happy/sad expressions since his remained consistent) and wore special green tinted contact lenses that could hypnotize anyone who looked straight into them for over 30 seconds flat. In fact, it was Influence himself who invented these contacts during his days as an adult student at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology three years ago through careful planning and creativity. His peers thought that they would be useful for police interrogations, but when Tadashi Hamada came into the picture, he and the other scientists, including Robert Callaghan, had deemed that the lenses were too dangerous should they be made into mass production for some people (even criminals) to use them for their own selfish purposes. Before he could order Influence to smash them, by means of a hammer to keep his patented technology from being copied through the criminal underworld, Influence refused to have his only working invention be destroyed and he left the school in a huff. It was then that Influence had decided to use the lenses for his own satisfactory, which led to his life of crime, sparked by hypnotizing Vitamin Flintheart, who eventually became his butler for the next two months. After Vitamin regained self-control and left Influence's employ, the hypnotist met Pruneface at the Bird Club and the two of them opened up a casino in the Bay Area with Influence as the sole proprietor. Despite his appearance, he was kind and courteous to Texie Garcia when she stayed with them while Big Boy was in prison, but Mrs. Pruneface would not allow her husband to have any other women in the house after the streetlights were turned on. Fortunately, Influence was able to calm the mad woman down by claiming that Texie was his through his own words…and the help of his special contact lenses.

On the other side of the table, two seats away from Influence's right hand side was Oodles. He was a blue skinned fellow who weighed about 465 pounds, wore dark blue overalls and a short black necktie, and had a wild hairstyle that covered his eyes and exposed the back of his head. It was because of his ravenous appetite that made him this way and he didn't like to admit that he had been bullied in his youth for it. He was also dimwitted, though he liked to participate in weight-watching programs and always kept a calorie counter with him at home. But with his introduction to the criminal underworld, Oodles could use his heavy-set body to fatally crush anyone who viewed his obesity as an object of scorn.

Sketch Paree was a Frenchman who had his own fashion blog on the internet and a doll named Babee who acted as his familiar and spoke to her as if she were a real person. He had dark hair with a French mustache, a pointy nose and his outfit consisted of a black French tailored suit and a big Prussian blue bowtie. He was said to be the rival of Talcum Freely, who designed baby clothes and when the news of Big Boy's release came on the local feed of his blog's subpage, he commented on a humorous post showing how much they looked exactly alike. Big Boy himself was marginally pleased about the subject and thus was the reason he invited Sketch to the meeting.

Of all the criminals present in the room, Paree's hit-man, Louis Rewes, a.k.a. the Mole, had his own tragic backstory to share. He had been abandoned by his parents ever since he was a baby because of his horrifying facial features that resembled that of an actual mole. Additionally, he wore a light purple suit (sometimes a red polyester shirt with black drawers), was very light sensitive and proved to be a little horny in his personality when three years ago, he tried to take advantage of a woman –Honey Lemon's mother- during a bribery that took place at a gas station run by his associate Oily. When word had spread about his crimes in the sewers, Dick Tracy caught the illiterate mobster red handed after the winter snow had flooded the Mole's hideout and melted into cold water. Showing sympathy for his unhappy beginnings, Tracy gave the Mole a nine month sentence in prison and when Christmas came around again, Tracy and the Hamada brothers greeted the recently released Mole with a gift package of fruit, cigarettes and candy, something he didn't have in almost thirty years. Mole's personality had changed his entire look on life and when the news of Big Boy's meeting came to him via Sketch Paree, Mole was hoping that Caprice would be going straight for once, by using his money to help people with a similar condition like him for a good cause. But instead, he felt as though he was going back to his old ways of getting revenge on the society that dejected his appearance.

Spots wasn't a well-known criminal but he was known for having a crowded array of sixteen dark spots floating in front of where his eyes should be and he was proud of them since they acted as his eyes in an animated fashion. It has been said by many accountants that he was born with them, since no one, not even he himself, knew where the spots originated. He had short dark hair and wore a light blue suit with a black necktie. In his criminal career, Spots produced phony plaques, resorted to blackmailing a Hawaiian girl and murdered his wife when she foiled his scheme to make it look as though she and the girl were related. When his crimes were notified, Spots had successfully escaped the city, though his shady appearance had drawn Big Boy's attention and thus was the reason he invited Spots to the meeting.

Coffyhead was the boss of Autumn Hews and Lugi who wore a yellow cream suit and bow tie that matched his hair color and a head that resembled a coffee pot. Two years ago, Coffyhead wanted to discredit Junior Tracy's Crimestoppers Club so that his enterprise system could run smoothly without further delay from Dick Tracy. First he kidnapped Junior and seven of his friends (chosen because of their innocence) and tried to recruit them into his criminal organization for $15 a day. The boys were tempted, but the strong-minded Junior refused, and after failing to coax Junior two more times (almost to the point of begging), Coffyhead placed him in a gas chamber that was to be filled with a toxic brand of nitrogen dioxide. Fortunately, Tracy had always been in touch with Junior on his own wrist radio and managed to track him down, rescuing Junior from an unfortunate fate in the process. Shortly after a series of investigations that lead to his hideout in the Zabu Importing Company located on the south side of San Fransokyo, Coffyhead, Autumn and Lugi were arrested, and never again did Coffyhead feel the delicious taste of freedom until he was bailed on account of Big Boy's meeting and his good behavior.

As Coffyhead poured his afternoon coffee, the man sitting next to him, Laffy Smith was counting his bills from a gambling debt. He was a chubby guy with freckles and had a helmet of light wavy hair with an orange tint and wore a typical business suit. He was so called Laffy because he had a case of infectious laughter (which continuously made him suffer from lockjaw and needed a quick exercise with the lower part of his jaw to negate it) and was an insane drug dealer who tried to make a profit by stealing drugs from the medical offices of San Fransokyo Tech. When the drugs were reported missing, Tadashi Hamada, a sophomore at the time, soon found out about Laffy because he formerly worked at the institute as a doctor, who had gone insane after a freak accident with an antidepressant and after putting two and two together through a serious investigation, Laffy was thrown into jail for three years. Afterwards, he was let out because of his good behavior, but to Laffy he believed that the "happy pill" had finally paid off.

Pear-Shape Tone (initials P. S. Tone) was named for his heavily rounded stomach that made the rest of his body look like an actual pear. In addition, he had brown wavy hair and wore square-cut glasses, a plum purple suit with a cherry red necktie and black laced shoes. He was also greedy, ambitious and liked to smoke cigars. A year ago, Pear-Shape had established connections to the criminal underworld and participated in a jewel theft from his client, the wealthy Mrs. Waldo, who was shot during the robbery by one of his confederates. Little did Pear-Shape know that he had been followed by a Boxer dog adopted by Dick Tracy named Mugg, and his plans to fence Mrs. Waldo's jewels to a sucker were foiled, but unfortunately for Tracy, Pear-Shape subdued Mugg and got away. Big Boy's meeting had called him back and Pear-Shape instantly accepted, hoping he would get some other jewels as a reward for what Big Boy had in mind.

And last but not least, at the very end of the table was Big Boy's attorney Giorgio "Spud" Spaldoni (real name: George Bumpstead) who had dark hair, a handlebar mustache, and wore a purple fedora with a matching coat and a pale cream shirt with a honeycomb colored necktie. He was born in London, England and chose a new name to distance himself from his mother and older brother, who was a police officer for Interpol. Even though he wanted pull off several crimes of his own, things always went wrong and was considered to be the bad luck charm of the Apparatus. His cars were sabotaged and the men he hired were literally down on their luck. But all-in-all, he was still loyal to Big Boy, despite their rivalry ten years ago over a fake subpoena for the both of them that concerned an arson attack on an apartment complex that was actually caused by Tony the Bomber during a demolition test.

These new criminals led by Big Boy were known as the second Apparatus, the former one having been dissolved upon Big Boy's arrest. This one was more composed of well-known degenerates, or to those on the right side of the law – infamous felons. Dick Tracy would later call them "The Gruesome Gang" as a chapter in his book of suspects.

Big Boy clapped his hands together and clasped them very tightly in a locked couple before he made a brief introduction to his new cohorts.

"I'm glad you're here today, Flattop, Pruneface, Johnny Ramm, Ribs, B-B Eyes, Laffy-"

"Don't forget me," called out 88 Keyes from the other side of the table next to Pear-Shape. He was raising his right arm as though he were back in elementary school.

Big Boy shook his hands defectively. "I don't have time for formal introductions."

"Ok," 88 Keyes lowered his arm onto the table and his expression went content.

"Before we begin," said Big Boy. "Let me explain to you the _modus operandi _of the new Apparatus."

The criminals moved their heads forward silently as Big Boy began one of his motivational speeches.

"As long as anyone can remember," Big Boy began in a couple of pauses. "Our forefathers and their descendants – that being us – have made life miserable for the citizens of this wonderful and highly advanced city of San Fransokyo. Some of us have resorted to crime for our own personal gain; some of us have resorted to crime to exact vengeance on those who see us for what we are on the outside and not on the inside – like Pouch."

Big Boy motioned his hands toward a half profile painting of the said figure named Pouch, hanging on the left side wall of the room. He wore an old yellow straw hat, a black coat and was shown to be holding a few balloons in his right hand, individually colored red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, indigo and violet against the background of a park. The criminals looked at it with sympathy; Pouch was named for his loose flaps of excess skin after losing a significant amount of his 500 lbs. when he was a freak show attraction. His neck had been implanted with a snap seal when he realized that he could use it to conceal items within it. Exacting vengeance on those who laughed and jeered at his fat appearance during his sideshow years, he resorted to a life of crime with the help of a smuggler named Johnny Scorn, who specialized in trafficking stolen goods and demolitions while at the same time a popcorn popper for pedestrians. Pouch's plans for smuggling jewels were eventually disrupted by Dick Tracy, who discovered the plans thanks to a few clues that led him to the bay where he was arrested in the middle of a shipping order. All of this happened about a month ago, and Pouch was currently serving a seven year prison sentence.

"We have felt completely alone in this world," continued Big Boy. "To be called names like 'freak', 'wacko' and worst of all, 'psycho'."

Hurt by the scornful words, Mole felt tears well up into his eyes as he remembered the day his parents abandoned him…his mom and dad throwing him into the river….his journey into the sewers, he had such an unhappy life, even though he found out that his parents were dead. Unsure of their forgiveness, he turned his face away from Big Boy and choked back a few sobs as the tears rolled down his cheeks. Feeling sympathy for the poor man, Oodles laid a comforting right hand on Mole's left shoulder, remembering his own abuse of being teased for his weight.

In the second phase of his speech, Big Boy's voice had changed into a tone of justice and hope for those in need of his "help". Even though he was a powerful mobster, he always fought for human rights and held several campaigns of anti-bullying propaganda to gain a positive reception of his new image, despite the fact that he had never been bullied in his life other than running with a bad crowd of juvenile delinquents that took action against the federal minimum wage laws. He aimed mostly to subjects who were physically or mentally disabled, among other curiosities and victims of scornfulness like feral children, sideshow attractions and even amputees or people who were born without limbs.

"But today, is a day of reckoning," he went on. "We've got a lot of stores and business owing tens and thousands of dollars to people in need of a cure for their problems and I think they should be working real hard-for us. And to make a long story short, this city doesn't need _normal _people, it needs people like _us_: the outcasts, the rejects and the scorned. There's no need for people like Dick Tracy or his Crimestoppers nowadays, they're history, overrated and lack the foresight to see the man in the mirror."

The criminals were silent and looked at each other in a slight confusion. Big Boy was very talkative, but sometimes his words made no sense at all. So he delivered a short message.

"What I'm trying to say is: Because we are for the people. 'And if you ain't for the people, you can't buy the people.'- Lincoln."

Big Boy was always known for making false quotations by famous speakers like Jefferson or Nietzsche; it made him look like a scholar with only a few simple words to get a simple message into a simple minded person's head.

The crooks clapped their hands in a scattered applause.

"So," huffed Pruneface. "You brought us all the way here for a lecture about what mainstream people think of us?"

"That…and this."

He pulled out a snapshot from the right breast pocket from his jacket and handed it to Pruneface, who in return, handed it to Flattop, then Mumbles, and then B-B Eyes until every single one of the criminals present in the room had finally caught their first glimpse of the mysterious red-streaked kabuki mask against a pitch black background. His black leather clothes were barely noticeable, so they thought it was just a picture of a mask on display at the San Fransokyo Museum of Modern Art, though B-B Eyes was the only one to notice the clothing, thanks to his sharp eyesight.

"This guy, who calls himself our benefactor, has personally hired us to build a teleportation device that will transfer him to another dimension. It may seem like a harebrained scheme but he's gonna pay us big, in exchange for the death of Dick Tracy and to turn this city into a utopia for the disabled, the discriminated and the deformed. Together...we will own this town."

Hearing the mention of that name, Mumbles raised his right hand worryingly.

"AhAhAh. Onesmallprobwenderboz," he said quickly.

Big Boy lowered his eyes in confusion, furrowing his brow as he titled his head forward by an inch.

"What did he say?"

Flattop raised his right hand in a poor imitation of Mumbles by lifting his index finger upwards.

"One small problem there, Boss," he translated.

"And?"

"Speaking of Dick Tracy," added Itchy. "What if he gets on our tail and ruins everything?"

"Ah, _oui,_" interrupted Sketch Paree. "These encounters with Monsieur Tracy does come very _naturellement_."

Pear-Shape pointed his right thumb in the direction of Sketch like a hitchhiker. "I am with the Frenchman on this one."

"Yeah, heaintgonletyagetawaywithit," Mumbles continued to ramble. "Heaintgonletyagetawaywithit! Heaingonnaletyaitawaywitanythaing!"

This time Big Boy understood because Mumbles repeated his sentence three times. He sat back comfortably in his chair, feet on the table, hands behind his back, not a care in the world.

"I can do whatever I what with Tracy, even if it means that we have to bump off one of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology's leading scientists with the help of you two."

He pointed his grubby right fingers to Lips and Breathless, who in return, pointed at each other.

"Us?" they asked unison.

"Yes, tomorrow night is the annual showcase where inventors and geniuses like to show off all their creativity and if one of the pieces required for the device is there, we need a distraction. You'll go in, disguised as janitors, or better yet; a pretty teacher from a distant boarding school."

As he mentioned the "pretty teacher", Big Boy smoothed his right fingers under Breathless' silky chin, gliding it from her jawbone to the precipice of the mental region. She smiled; enjoying the touch of fingers roughened by work and sweat like a real man. Lips, however, thinking that his friend was trying to advance on his mistress, stood up from his chair, fist clenched and wanting to change the subject of the next element in their latest scheme.

"What's in it for me if you can't do it?"

After several excuses in the past couple of years to give Lips a reason to do his dirty work, Big Boy twitched his eyes backwards to the left and exited the room without a word. Scrambling down the stairs and through the dining area, he went into the kitchen and found the silver platter he was looking for on a cart. With both hands at a steady pace, he bought the entrée back up to the conference room and placed it in front of Lips, still standing like a general instructor waiting for training results.

"Would clams be enough for you?" asked Big Boy as he opened the tray cover.

On the plate was Lips' favorite dish, eight clams (or oysters) embedded with two lemons, a tiny cup of spicy ketchup and a single layer of lettuce underneath it all. Lips stared at the gourmet in disbelief before his emotions turned into a happy little chuckle and a smile of avarice.

"Oh, ho, ho, oh, Big Boy, you spoil me."

He sat back down again and began to slurp down on the oyster meat from the shells with both hands. Breathless just stared at him with a disgusted look on her face that was added by an offended groan, seeing Lips eat with such loud slurping and crude table manners made her sick to her stomach, as she had told him a few times before.

"All right, men, let's leave these two love birds alone with their meal."

Big Boy and the criminals left the room quietly, leaving Breathless and Lips alone in the red and cream painted hall. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the slurping of oysters and the empty shells clattering on the dish like raindrops on a tile roof. Breathless continued to watch Lips devour the last oyster as her expression turned sour, her eyes at half-mast like always and her teeth exposed from her mouth, grimacing in a sulky emotion.

"Oh, Lippy," she moaned. "I hate it when you do that."

Lips knew what she was talking about but he didn't give a care. "You didn't used to."

Then came the blunt reply. "You didn't used to be a zeppelin."

Lips just stared at her, his big lower lip forming a grotesque version of a guilty ridden frown. This was not like her at all. But then again, with all her charming wit and pure sarcasm, Breathless Mahoney was not a very fun person to work with.


	5. Microbots

By the next morning, Hiro's inventions were beginning to work perfectly and he turned down one bot-fight after another. Sora, Hiro, Donald, Tadashi and Goofy carted the bins off into the wagon of Aunt Cass' truck after a hearty breakfast of boiled eggs held by chopsticks. Hiro imagined creating a jet plane out of the microbots, hoping that it would impress the judges once they saw a flying machine that could reassemble itself after being shot down, but Tadashi had advised him to save the idea for the air force. After all, it was a science fair that they were going to and not an air show.

When they arrived at the school by 9:30, Sora, Donald and Goofy went on ahead into the office, but Aunt Cass dashed into the student store and bought two blue SFIT hoodies for the brothers. She was planning on photographing their first moments at school, as she had done almost seven times in the past and any article of clothing from that school would help her to identify the name in case she would forget.

Cass placed the hoodies onto Hiro and Tadashi and took them to the entrance, positioning the brothers to create the optical illusion as if their hands were grabbing onto the dual towers of the institute like giants. Hiro stood on his right foot while Tadashi was balanced on his left.

"Almost got it," Cass was trying to adjust the camera in a crystal clear focus, but Hiro felt as if his left arm and his left leg were beginning to fall off of his joints.

"Aunt Cass, we're gonna be late!" he protested.

"Of course you won't, it's right across the street."

Then, like what any other professional photographer would do, she instructed the brothers with clear words and actions.

"Okay Tadashi, move your arm…_up,_ a little bit and…."

The camera snapped.

"There! That one's a keeper."

In the picture was Hiro holding up his right thumb up while his left foot was against the side of the right tower while his hand looked like he was clutching the roof, while Tadashi's position was almost exact with his right hand placed over the roof of the left tower and his foot looked as if it were going to knock it down.

Pleased with the memory, Cass locked her nephews in a tight embrace and went off to park the truck in a spot closer to the showcase hall.

Hiro was excited. "Come on! Let's go, Tadashi!"

And without even bothering to look both ways before crossing the street, Hiro would have been run over by a speeding bus had it not been for Tadashi pulling him back by the pullover of his hoodie.

"Who'd look after you if I wasn't around?" Hiro asked his brother as they entered the institute hand in hand.

They signed in at the front office and it was arraigned by Diet Smith that Tadashi would present Baymax first and Hiro would show his microbots later near the end of the day at 5:00 PM. With that being settled, Hiro and Tadashi would have enough time to walk around the campus and chat with Sora and the research team before going on to present their inventions, unaware that on this very day in history, their lives would soon change forever.

* * *

><p>In the meantime, Big Boy was going about his business inside the art deco conference room of Club Ritz, but things weren't going so peachy keen for the biggest crime boss in the city. The benefactor had not yet specified the demands for what Breathless was going to steal at the showcase later on that evening and she was already getting dressed for the occasion. Caprice had been waiting outside her dressing room for over the last eight minutes and she stepped from behind the door, surprising him with a silver lamé dress, silver slippers, silver star earrings, diamond studied bracelets, and a pair of Swarovski diamond rings on both fingers.<p>

"How do I look?" she asked him.

"Like a sheet of aluminum foil," said Big Boy.

"I was thinking more of the crystalline type."

"Either way, it's a nice choice, honey. No one 'ill be suspecting you that pretty dress."

"Other than going to steal an invention piece that will win the show, what do you mean by 'suspecting'?"

"I mean, is there anyone you know at the Tech? Or at least somebody who knows you?"

The very person came into Breathless' head. "Other than Tadashi Hamada?"

Big Boy rolled his eyes. "Oh, _that _son of a bitch."

He sat down in front of the desk, having walked their way up the stairs as they talked.

"I have had my connections with him before and if he's the guy we want, then maybe that is what the benefactor wants."

Lips was observing a map of the campus grounds at SFIT on Big Boy's right. He had printed it off the school website just an hour ago and when he had overheard Big Boy commenting over the demands, he just had to express his doubts.

"Why risk it, Al? The benefactor hasn't given us the specifics yet, and if he has, we should know when he plans to strike next. Time is of the essence."

Then with a sigh, he added: "We might as well be orchestrating an improvised robbery."

Flattop, who was opposite from Lips' side of the table, smirked at the chance of a nonchalant suggestion.

"You know Big Boy, you did say last night that the showcase was a perfect opportunity for a break-in. With all focus on the expo hall, much of the campus will be shut down to save electricity and with only a few guards for us take care of, it should be piece of cake. So I say: we break into the main building, raid one of the labs, make off with whatever documents we can find, and say it never happened."

Big Boy smiled.

"Smart thinking Flattop, even though they are bound to find out sooner or later."

Flattop responded with a serious grin. "You want me to handle this personally?"

"Yes." But Flattop was in a quandary.

"Sure you don't want to send somebody else? I could get caught in there."

Big Boy shook his head no.

"Nope. Just you. You see, Flattop, the first step to the crime of the century can be a very important job...and you-"

He pointed his left index finger at him.

"Are the number one rogue of San Fransokyo."

Like the _número__ uno pícaro _that he was, Flattop stifled a laugh.

"Have you got your gang with you?" asked Big Boy, lowering the finger.

"I've already discussed it with 'em," replied Flattop. "In fact, the boys and Crewy are already in the car. Shaky will meet us at the rendezvous point while Breathless takes the stage."

Big Boy was puzzled. "Shaky? What's he got to do with this?"

"We had a change of plans, Big Boy," Lips confessed. "Shaky and I agreed that he would drive Breathless over to the showcase. He is her stepfather after all and I'm not in the mood for going out."

"Not to mention that someone has to run the club while I'm gone," Breathless added. "Shaky hasn't driven me too often and last night you said something about a pretty teacher going solo, right Big Boy?"

Big Boy remembered himself. "You're right. I did a mention a pretty teacher from a distant boarding school, but I did not say anything about a fat guy accompanying her."

Lips was taken aback by the comment. "You could have at least said something more decent like 'big' or 'heavy' for my sake."

"And what about you and the oysters?"

"Forget about the oysters, I've got plenty. But that was _before _you suggested the idea."

After Lips, Flattop and Breathless left the room, Big Boy felt his cell phone vibrating. He answered it and immediately recognized the voice that said back to him.

"How's it going, Big Boy?"

"Hey, Alistair. How's business in the world of techs?"

"Wonderful, stocks are up by seventy percent, the revenue is up and low costs for the construction of the Krei Tech headquarters is the reason why I have decided that I will not be needing your services any longer."

Big Boy glowered as if his caller was a rival crime boss. "What?"

"Krei Tech has found new stockholders, so it looks like I won't be using anymore of your money."

"Why wasn't I told about this?"

The caller tried to sound reasonable. "The last thing I want to tell the press is that I have been financing the company with illegal tender. About $600,000 in the main coffers."

As if they had been consciously doing a good cop/bad cop routine, Big Boy tried to score a point.

"Haven't you heard of a thing called lying?"

"I have to be honest," the caller stepped in. "Otherwise, they'll have me arrested for laundering _your _money. I expect that with the number of stocks going in, the completion of the San Fransokyo headquarters should be within about a month or two. So you should be thanking me that I'm giving back your money."

"But I gave you that money to help with your bills, your taxes, your employers and your fees!" Big Boy hissed as if it were a sick joke. "Do you know how much it means to run a business, fifty-fifty?!"

The caller tried not to argue with him incisively as he drove the stake home.

"Big Boy, I have my word, but I have my _freedom_. I'll confess my actions to the authorities after the grand opening of the new headquarters. Hate to say this to you but….looks like I'm out."

"NO!" Big Boy refused to believe his words. "You are not out! When-"

Before he could say anymore, he heard a dial.

"Hello? Alistair!? GET BACK HERE!"

Knowing his informant had hung up on him in the middle of a rant, Big Boy shut the cellphone and calmly placed it on the fiberglass table with defeat. All alone in the conference room and thinking about getting chopped suey for dinner.

"Shit," he muttered quietly to himself.

* * *

><p>Flattop, not particularly a gentleman so to speak, walked to the garage with pounding footsteps to where his car-a red 1991 Toyota Corolla-lay dormant behind Big Boy's Caddy. He pulled the rear door open and what he saw next did not put a grin on his cupid's mouth. In the back was Crewy Lou, sitting on the right, B-B Eyes in the middle and Measles on the left side door. Itchy was in the driver's seat while Mumbles was riding shotgun, and Flattop (out of all the times he actually had to drive the car <em>himself<em>) knew that there was a solution or two to his seating problem.

He dragged Crewy out from the back seat by her right hand with his left, and almost before she could react, took her seat. Crewy pouted and fretted like a child as she lowered her fists to her waists.

"Where am _I _supposed to sit?" she whined.

"In the trunk."

"Can't I just sit on your lap like always?"

"Sorry, Crewy, I heard on the morning news that there have been a string of cars getting pulled over for lack of safety restraints like wearin' a seat beat an' such."

Crewy shook her hands furiously. "Who cares?!"

"I care!" Itchy called out from the driver's seat. "Even a crook's gotta follow traffic regulations, and besides there's no room. Now you can either take the trunk or we'll just leave ya here."

"Igree," added Mumbles, pointing his right thumb at Itchy.

After such a rebuff from three of her fellow men, Crewy had seen that there was no use in arguing with Measles or B-B Eyes as well, and so with a sigh of defeat; she stomped over to the trunk, opened the decklid and while placing her left leg against the black leather, scooted the firearms taking up her space to the very back of the trunk where the rear seats were located on the other side. Then, with her other hand, she pulled the decklid down.

With her arms wrapped around her bodice and her legs wheeled up to her behind, Crewy Lou lay on her back, staring up at the enclosed ceiling. She prayed silently that the ride would be a short one. Not only was she aware that riding in the trunk was a dangerous and discreetly illegal decision, but it also made her difficult to breathe due to the lack of oxygen from the outside. The first time she had to suffer being locked in a trunk was when Flattop's "advances" became too much for her in what had been a miserable dinner date at The Dragon's Gong three months ago. To escape his lust, she hid in the trunk of Toyota parked outside the restaurant, hoping that Flattop would calm down and look for her in anguish before she nearly died of asphyxiation. Thanks to Flattop's logical process, her plan was successful.

In the present, Flattop waited for Crewy to enter the trunk. After hearing the sound of a decklid opening and closing, he turned his head back to make sure that she was nowhere in sight, and with the lid closed; he knew that she was aboard.

Turning back to face his colleagues, Flattop called to Itchy, "Let's go."

Itchy moved the stick shift into second gear, his right hand clutching the throttle, left hand on the steering wheel and his right foot on the gas pedal. After a short rev of the engine, the car rolled out of the garage and drove off into the sunset.

* * *

><p>The Expo Hall of San Fransokyo Tech was built in 2000 at the dawn of the new century. It was one of the brightest gems on the campus and ran almost entirely on solar power. The pagoda roof was decorated in the style of the Miyajima, Saikoku-ji and Fudion temples and was almost the height of the East Glorious Gate of the Forbidden City in China. It spawned for one acre over the river that led straight to the ocean, where the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge could be seen a half-mile away above the trees and towards the bay. Two long vinyl banners advertising the showcase hung from the left and right sides of the building with a pair of turquoise colored glass fountains by the entrance. A concrete staircase of eleven steps were lit by four street lights, two at the top and two at the bottom and led to the major paths of the school with an intricate design of three squiggled lines. Twenty pedestrian lanterns, a total of ten on each side of the building's foundation, lit the rich wood and amber green features of the hall with three ground lights on either side of the front to flood the banners with a strong degree of light. Four doors of blurred glass allowed the students to enter the antechamber and from there would cross into the large room of cherry red and black fixtures decorating the wall and sixty six floodlights of blue, green and purple hung from six rigged trusses going in an S-shaped direction. On the ground was the presentation zone where the inventions would attract the VIPs of the science industry and stars of large companies seeking to find a new talent (as well as plagiarizing a few ideas), including a hydrodynamic engineering display of a diver exercising through green liquid, live digital display screens of holographic projectors, a touch screen display panel showing the statistics of crops and livestock, a food cart of red lanterns and four cream booths, an enormous fifty inch screen television monitor and a remote controlled red and white blimp powered by a pair of small electronic fans. To put it simple, it was a buzzing live show where contenders were given strictly controlled booth-space to set up their projects and present their ideas. Then, the judges would mark the votes and offer the winner and the best candidates a coveted spot at SFIT. It was definitely a battle of the brains amongst an influx of freshman students who wanted to share a piece of their technology that would help to change the future.<p>

Breathless parked her sleek lavender sports car-a 1935 Auburn 851 Boattail Speedster-alongside Aunt Cass' truck, knowing that it belonged to Tadashi's family. Shielding herself to make sure the temperature was not too cold, she stepped out of the car and turned back to face her stepfather, who was clutching the steering wheel and looked like he was suffering from a soft breeze that was as bitter as the Pacific Ocean on a cold, dark night.

"Are you sure you don't want me to be your chaperone?" Shaky asked in a wobbly voice.

"Anyone won't recognize you if you stay behind," Breathless instructed him. "I'll be out before you know it."

"You have your cellphone?" Shaky continued to question her.

Breathless pulled out a mauve colored BlackBerry from her pocket above the right knee of the dress. She shoved it in front of Shaky and shook it in the motion of his juddering body to make sure he was seeing it clearly when he could without her doing it.

"Let me know when Flattop and his little friends are here," she reminded him. "If not, he'll call me."

"He might," Shaky replied doubtfully. "I left mine at home."

Breathless had little time to bother with this act of remorse, she placed the BlackBerry back into her pocket and walked her way to the expo hall like the star she was. With nothing better to do than wait, Shaky opened the glove compartment, containing five pages of paperwork and application of the car's ownership and seventeen music albums; including _I'm Breathless _(her only album to be released to the public). Shaky reached his right hand into the compartment for the top album of the stack, _The Best of Ritchie Valens_, and inserted the disk into the CD player, a special add-on for future owners of the car. Immediately, he was tapping his fingers to the beat of _La Bamba_ on the steering wheel, feeling less "shakier" than usual.

After walking the path for three minutes, Breathless finally came to the expo hall. She was aroused by the design of the building as she entered the second door on her right and cautiously approached the desk manager. He was a thin man with brown hair at the sides, and wore black specs, a berry red and grey striped polyester shirt and black pants. Breathless thought that the manager was her own depiction of how she viewed the other students of the institute besides Tadashi. But keeping that thought to herself, she rested her right arm on the desk, tapped her finger nails five times and had successfully gained his attention.

"May I help you?" the desk manager asked politely.

"I've come to pay a surprise visit," Breathless answered like she was trying to seduce him.

"Do you have an invention to present?"

"No, but I am here to entertain the guests."

"I'm sure that whatever the students have to present will be enough entertainment for tonight."

Breathless craned her head closer to the desk manager, his eyes met hers with full concentration on that face of natural beauty.

"I don't think you understand, I'm Breathless Mahoney."

The desk manager studied her face carefully.

"_The _Breathless Mahoney?"

"Have you seen me before?"

"Just a couple of posters," the desk manager admitted in a guilty face.

"But all the same," Breathless started to reason. "Would it hurt not to have a live singer in front of a crowd of hundreds?"

The desk manager just handed Breathless the sign-in sheet on a clip-board. To her expectations, Hiro and Tadashi's names were already listed at the bottom under "Contestants". Breathless carefully signed her signature and with a proud moment of glee, eased her silver-clad bodice into the hall.

It was crowded inside, enough for a single person to slip away without being noticed. Breathless inched along, wondering if anyone would or would not recognize her as she made her way to the very end of the one hundred foot hall, scanning the crowd for Tadashi. There, a rectangular stage that was the average size for a band concert was waiting for her, telling her to take center stage and raise her voice to perform what she thought was the most beautiful song known to exist: "Something to Remember". A ballad that she had written to express her emotions towards lost love and treasured memories of that relationship with a relic that had been left behind by that person who was deceased or divorced. Perhaps she would sing a more upbeat song like "Vogue", a pop single that displayed her intelligence of beauty, the soul of dancing from within and household named actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood like Greta Garbo to Bette Davis.

While taking her time to prepare for the impending robbery, Breathless looked around with awe, impressed by the magnificent machines and cutting-edge inventions by students from all twenty three districts and thirty six neighborhoods, including a Ruku Ruku kitchen serving foods and beverages, an "ecobot" to save on electricity, a microscope sitting on a booth for hiring new members for Innovative Healthcare Solutions, and even the more casual souvenirs like pamphlets, leaflets, shirts, mugs and caps. A hundred people stood amongst a few well-dressed individuals here and there, to whom Breathless assumed were the judges and VIPs of the showcase.

"It's like science fiction come to life," she muttered out loud. "Too bad I have to steal one of their inventions though."

She checked the presentations up and down with wide-eyes and came to the Ruku Ruku kitchen where beverages were being served on a violet topped table.

"Then again, I am a little thirsty."

Breathless zipped over to the table and greeted the presenter and his acquaintances with a flashy grin.

"Hello folks, is this the blackjack table?"

"Do I look like a pit boss to you?" the presenter, a twenty-two year old male with dirty blonde hair and a white button up shirt glanced at her oddly. "This is a drinking table."

"Of course it is," Breathless replied sarcastically. Then her voice got serious-almost monotone if one were to ask her.

"It's a joke about me growing up in a speakeasy."

She checked the menu. They were all commercial drinks.

"I'll have a diet coke with two lumps of ice and make it free. My purse is still in the car."

The presenter went over to the soda fountain attached to the back wall of the display and poured the diet coke and two lumps of ice into a plastic cup. He handed it to Breathless and she stirred the drink into a miniature whirlpool with her left index finger as if it were a cocktail.

"So what's this about you and a speakeasy?" the young man had asked her. He was curious and didn't quite get the joke about Breathless' comment about a blackjack table.

"Well, when you live a speakeasy for _that _long," Breathless half-lied. "One might think that you had gambling on the brain."

She lowered her hand holding the cup to gain a fully unobstructed view of the presenter laughing his heart out at this quirk, but he wasn't. He had taken her words as sheer stupidity, as if the charming chanteuse was a stereotype blonde. The look on his face meant "I don't know what you're talking about," and she was looking back at him with a tiny smirk.

A corpulent woman with tanned skin, a purple headband, black hair, a thistle-colored shirt, black shorts and vermillion slippers was the only one who laughed. Her unequally thin daughter, another student of the school, curled her lips into a polite smile and the remaining three witnesses, a pair of Native American women and a slightly muscular man in a yellow shirt and a ponytail in his light-colored hair did not bother with her at all.

As Breathless moved away from the table to keep her eyes open for Tadashi, she suddenly came in close contact with the sweater of Professor Robert Callaghan. Her drink nearly spilled and having prevented herself from bumping into him, she let out a startled gasp and spluttered at the very sight of this prestigious man.

"May I help you?" Callaghan asked in a tone that matched his smile.

"I beg your pardon, sir. I was just lea-"

Breathless took in every detail of his face. She had seen him before…in person.

"Robert Callaghan?"

The professor nodded.

"It's been three months, Miss Mahoney."

"I see."

She moved her free hand toward a seat, but he continued to smile and made a waving gesture that said, "No thank you."

"So this is how you've made all those billions," Breathless squeaked a friendly chuckle. "For future generations of this city."

"Actually," Professor Callaghan rectified. "It's giving future generations the opportunity of attending the institute. Once they've graduated, they can look back and feel proud of having the chance to have been a student here."

"Your secret to success may be that simple," Breathless said as she took a swig of her diet coke. "Me? I'm just a minor celebrity singing my life away on a club stage and on local radio."

"Too bad it has to be run by a mobster," Callaghan sympathized. "You should have a record deal."

"That's what Lips says, but he never really keeps his promises."

She tried to match his smile with her own as she took a third of the coke down her esophagus.

"So what are you doing here?"

Breathless remained true to her mission.

"Well, when I heard about this showcase, I thought that your students would need some songs for their presentations. Someone like me, a star who knows how to carry a tune."

"I think the inventions are just about all the entertainment we need, Breathless. Although, it would be nice for a star like you to make a special appearance in front of all my students. We haven't had a band for these events in almost seven years."

"Didn't care for their music?"

"Nope. Budget cuts."

Breathless looked down at the cup she had been holding in her right hand for four minutes. Her diet soda was half empty at the bottom. She reared her head back to Callaghan and put forth each word into her objective without revealing the true nature of her reason for being here.

"Robert, before I forget…do you know if any of the inventions presented here would make a good piece for, I don't know…a portal?"

Callaghan's smile dropped into a cold, humorless glare. The very mention of the word "portal" seemed to have a negative effect on him.

"Why do you ask?" he said sternly.

Breathless flinched. It was not the first time she had seen Callaghan's emotions turn into the polar opposite of his public image.

"Just curious," she confessed in a scared voice.

Professor Callaghan leered his head closer to Breathless as if he was about to rape her.

"I'd be ready for a world of destruction if I had to deal with those VIPs all day long."

Breathless wanted to know if Callaghan was referring to a specific someone, but all she said was, "I know how you feel. Big Boy's rehearsals are such a pain in the ass, but it's still worth it."

Professor Callaghan played it cool as he tried to keep his temper. Breathless on the other hand, took one final sip of the coke, bit her teeth into the ice and threw the plastic cup into a waste bin by the soda fountain.

"Who says you can't recycle plastic over Styrofoam?" she cracked to the presenter. This time, he just smiled in agreement with the school's environmentalist motivations.

Then, with free hands, Breathless asked Callaghan something that would put the smile back on his lips.

"Do you know where Tadashi is?"

"He should be preparing for his presentation."

"And what is his presentation?"

"He calls it a healthcare robot. He should be at that stage over there."

He pointed his left index finger to the rectangular stage that Breathless had been looking at six minutes ago. The fair-haired singer placed her left hand on her forehead as a visor and narrowing her eyes, could make out a male figure in an olive green blazer and a black shirt on the right side of the stage. She recognized the figure as Tadashi and casually walked her way over to the stage, but not before turning her upper body back to thank Professor Callaghan, whose smile was returning.

"I hope you enjoy the show, professor."

She walked away, her head focused on Tadashi as she approached the stage with strong feelings. The young man was leaning by a red-baggage like device that Breathless had not seen before (or at least not fully aware of its existence). When Tadashi stood up, he turned his head at the shimmer of silver lamé fabric and his face was jumpy when he asked, "Breathless?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

"What brings you here?"

"I heard about the showcase and I thought that you would need an assistant for your presentation."

Breathless moved closer against Tadashi's personal boundary. In return, he tried to give her some space.

"I was thinking of having someone else be my volunteer, but you can come up if you'd like."

"I accept."

Breathless fiddled with a lock of Tadashi's black hair and the elder Hamada turned counterclockwise towards the three steps of the stage. He walked up the steps with Breathless following behind and he took out a microphone with an earplug from his toolbox by a stand on his side of the stage. Hiro stood nearby, ready to see his brother's _magnum opus _in full action, while at the same time he was aroused by the aurora of Breathless Mahoney's silver lamé grown. The reflective lights emitting from her jewels had caught Sora's eye and almost blinded Goofy, who was by the stage with Donald and Hiro while the presentation was just getting started. Honey Lemon, Go Go, Wasabi and Fred were serving as initial witnesses, and Aunt Cass could not wait to see what her oldest nephew had in store for the science world.

"May I have your attention, please?" Tadashi said into the microphone.

A small crowd was forming before the stage, along with Professor Callaghan, Diet Smith and the other judges.

"Before I begin, I would like you all to know that our local singer Patricia 'Breathless' Mahoney has paid a surprise visit to our fair institute."

The audience applauded, and for lack of a spotlight, Breathless grinned sheepishly.

"Thanks. It's an honor," she lowered her head.

"Now," Tadashi addressed the audience. "Who besides our special guest would to volunteer for my presentation? I need someone who is in pain."

Almost immediately, Fred jumped onto the stage like a tiger.

"Oh, oh, oh! Pick me! ME!"

He whispered into Tadashi's right ear. "Do you have piece of tape?"

Unfortunately on Tadashi's part, Breathless overheard them.

"I'll do it," she said.

She went over to Fred and he pulled up his shirt to give her a good look at his scrawny chest.

"Do you like what you see?" he asked her.

"Nice abs," Breathless said dryly. "Too bad they look a little…vulnerable."

Tadashi whispered to his subjects.

"Breathless, Fred doesn't actually have to _be _in pain."

"No, she's right Tadashi. If I'm gonna do this, I have to do it right. Tape please."

Breathless obeyed and she walked over to the toolbox to get the tape out, the same tape Tadashi used on Hiro almost two weeks ago. She placed a six inch placed over Fred's heart in-between his abs, held onto it for three seconds, and much to the shock of the audience, pulled it off in a swift reflex, leaving behind a red burn mark and some miniscule drops of blood in the place of twelve hair follicles that were stuck to the discarded piece of tape. Fred tried to hold his breath, but his cheeks burst into a "YEOOOOOOWWW!" as he felt like a butcher's knife had carved into his heart.

With a beeping noise, a roll of the wheels up and to the right of Fred and a full-blown inflation sequence revealed Baymax in all his kawaii glory.

"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."

The audience awed and clapped as Baymax took two steps out from his baggage. He took six more steps closer to Fred and the judges: Callaghan, Smith and two women named Annie and Sally made the votes on their tablets. Even Hiro was more impressed than before by this secondary introduction. Tadashi made the announcement.

"Meet Baymax, the world's first robotic medical aid."

"I was alerted to the need of medical attention when you said 'ow'," Baymax interrupted, continuing his "check-up" with Fred. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Duct tape ripped out my man-hair," Fred replied meekly.

Baymax's chart of faces appeared before Fred.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

Fred pointed to the eight face with his left pinky finger.

"Crying face…"

"I will scan you now."

Tadashi turned out to the audience as Breathless made the typical gestures of a hostess holding her hands out toward the special attraction. Baymax's actions were shown on the screen behind them.

"Baymax is equipped with hyperspectral cameras," Tadashi continued. "He can scan a patient, diagnose the condition, then recommend a course of action."

Baymax scanned Fred up and down as he found the injury and displayed Fred's symptoms at the bottom of the screen, his heart rate and blood pressure appeared to be normal.

"You have a small epidermal abrasion on your upper torso."

"Please be gentle with me," Fred winced like an infant.

"Don't let Baymax's nonthreatening huggable design fool you," resumed Tadashi as his robot turned his right index finger into the spray of bacitracin. "He has a composite fiber pneumatic skeleton that makes even lifting the heaviest of patients a breeze."

Baymax held out his arms for Fred and the teen climbed into his arms. The robot held him bridal style and the judges continued to make their votes.

"I feel so safe in your arms," Fred said in a light feminine voice. "It's like being hugged by a cloud."

He held his arms around Baymax's head. The robot looked at him with no feeling whatsoever other than concentration.

"The heart of Baymax," Tadashi continued. "Is his healthcare chip, programmed with over thirty thousand medical procedures and home to his caregiving matrix."

Fred snuggled his nose under Baymax's neck, while the robot replied, "I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care."

"In that case," answered Fred, patting the marshmallow's heart. "I am satisfied with my care...and your warm embrace."

Baymax put Fred down and sidestepped three times to the left.

"And that," finished Tadashi. "Is Baymax. Thanks."

The audience clapped with joy and the final poll results were made. Cass came up from behind Professor Callaghan, shouting "That's my nepheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeww! YEAH!"

Keeping herself from feeling left out, and as part of her "distraction", Breathless offered the microphone from Tadashi and he politely agreed.

"And as special bonus, let's all give a warm welcome to your favorite starlet-myself."

She held out her karaoke CD.

"Can I get a DJ?"

Tadashi took the CD.

"Allow me, ma'am."

He placed the CD in a disk player in front of the screen and the instrumental backup of Breathless' #1 single _Vogue_ began to play. As the crowd went along with their business, Sora, Donald, Goofy and a few other witnesses remained to hear her sing.

_C'mon,_

_Vogue!_

_Let your body move to the music!_

_Hey, hey, hey!_

_C'mon,_

_Vogue!_

_Let your body go with the flow!_

_You know you got to do it!_

Go Go found Breathless' music somewhat enjoyable, but an envious Honey thought that she was a show-off, considering how many days and months Tadashi spent with Breathless over her. Wasabi approved of her hygienic skills and Fred was glad to be demonstrating a variety of movements; the tango, the swing, the waltz, the foxtrot and a samba with his favorite "dance teacher". When the song was finished, they left the stage with Hiro and Tadashi as they went back to retrieve the microbot bins from Aunt Cass' truck in the parking lot. Shaky who was still in Breathless' car, hid under the driver's seat, fearful of being caught while he was still next to the truck. He did not even dare to turn up the radio until the brothers and their friends were out of sight.

* * *

><p>The Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab was deserted when Itchy parked the Toyota in front of the steps. Flattop's first objective was to get Crewy out of the trunk and when he opened it, her hair had flattened with sweat and she was still breathing at a normal rate.<p>

"Next time," Crewy sighed with her breath returning. "Buy me an inhaler."

"At least you didn't complain all the way," Flattop replied as he helped her out with his hands.

The hoodlums obtained their signature firearms from the trunk; Flattop with his prized 1927A1 Thompson machine gun (also known as the "Chicago Typewriter" with a rare 100 round drum), Itchy with his .45 caliber M1A1 Thompson submachine gun, Mumbles with his 6.5 barrel Smith & Wesson Model 27, B-B Eyes with his S&M Model 17-4 (with a barrel two inches longer than Mumbles'), Measles with his M3 Grease Gun and Crewy Lou with her Winchester Model 1912 pump action shotgun that could hold up to 20 gauge bullets in six rounds of shots.

Flattop took out Lips' map of the building that he had taken from the conference room before he left and folded it out on the decklid of the trunk. He shined a flashlight over the map and made a circling gesture on the rooms that he and his buddies were intending to infiltrate as they observed the layout of the interior with sharp eyes and heavy concentration.

"Take a good look," he reminded his fellows.

After thirty seconds of preparation, they were ready to pull off the job.

"Will we even need these?" Measles asked Itchy, referring to the gun.

"A good crook's always got to be prepared," said Itchy, scratching the bottom of his neck with his left hand.

"What if they hear us? I forgot my silencer."

"Then we don't use 'em."

He left for the stairs, leaving Measles a bit confused if one might say that.

"Well isn't that a waste of time?" he muttered to himself.

Being certain to make sure that no one had locked the doors, Itchy grabbed the right side handle and to his surprise, opened it without a cinch. It was very likely that the doors were only open to visitors and staff members working the last minute night shift while enjoying the showcase. Itchy popped his head through the doors with Mumbles and Flattop by his sides. The mush-mouthed hood surveyed the vacant office with his sulky eyes peering left, right, then back again to his peers.

"Cosiscler."

Itchy turned to Flattop in desperate need of a translation.

"Mumbles says the coast is clear."

"I knew that," Itchy shrugged.

Mumbles was the first to enter as he said, "Lezgo."

He rushed to the other side of the office by the elevator, avoiding any signs of a security camera from the walls and ceilings. Itchy went second, then Flattop, Measles, Crewy and finally B-B Eyes. B-B could see a small camera above the desk and was almost relived by this close shave.

"What if there's more?" Measles whispered to B-B.

"We just avoid them the same way those kids did it in _Catch That Kid. _Did you see that movie?"

"Only the Dutch version."

Crewy Lou's grip on her shotgun was firm as she loaded the chamber with an amber colored shell.

"Well, I don't speak Dutch," she said with ferociousness in her voice. "Just English, Persian and Chinese."

Flattop pressed the up button to the elevator and they all climbed aboard. Measles looked back, almost as if someone was watching him before Crewy took his right arm and dragged him into the elevator before the doors closed.

"What is your problem?!" she whispered in his right ear.

"I thought that someone was following us."

"Just pray that it'll be the guard's night off, Measles," Flattop said irritably. "Cause they'd better not be watching us."

Most of the security on the campus was mostly concentrated on the showcase, therefore a robbery in the expo hall would be the least of their concerns compared to what might happen if someone were to rob another part of the school.

On the second floor, the criminals held their breaths and walked quietly in a single straight line with Flattop leading the way. The hallway was dark, no one knew they were there except for a guard or two that might have been a little suspicious. Breaking and entering was the key element to this mission, but did not require a forced entry due to the open door and because of that, it was not specifically called "breaking and entering" under the terms of Japanifornia law. Burglary wasn't too common in the state either, with only the violation of trespassing in Penal Code 602 and acts of vandalism in Penal Code 594 to add an alibi of charging the accused with other committed crimes. In their case however, it was no wonder why San Fransokyo was advertised by some sources as the one of the most safest cities in the country.

At the end of the hall was Callaghan's office, the crooks slipped silently to the door and discovered that it was locked when Itchy tried to open it. Fortunately, Crewy Lou always kept a bobby pin on her person for two reasons: keeping her hairstyle straight and picking locks. She inserted the pick into the top part of the lock, wiggled it for three seconds and her comrades slipped quietly into the office one at a time when the door was unlocked.

"See what you can find," Flattop instructed his cronies. "But it's gotta look worthy."

Callaghan's office was plain, but sleek with only a desk, a laptop, a chair for visitors and three file cabinets with some personal effects. Crewy closed the door behind her just as she thought to have heard the footsteps of a guard coming from the other side of the hallway. The sounds actually came from her fellow criminals along with a small rattling noise from the ventilation shaft, faint at first but echoed with intensity for only a few moments.

Flattop opened the desk drawer and ran his hands over the documents for anything that would be useful for a so-called portal. Itchy, B-B Eyes, Mumbles and Crewy scanned the file cabinets and Measles had the door opened by a crack to keep a look out for anyone else inside the building.

"You think we should have bought some disguises like a ski mask or something?" he asked his partners.

"Nothing makes me itch worse than a ski mask," Itchy seethed.

"And besides," B-B Eyes agreed. "Disguises are for modernists. You see anybody else who wears a disguise?"

"Other than a few superheroes," Measles admitted in a voice that could not be heard from the outside.

Each of the felons had a black leather shopping bag for stolen goods, while Flattop took three of what he thought were the most important files and a wall sized map of San Fransokyo, leading his eyes to the blueprint of a circular-shaped device with the letters "PSS" at the bottom.

_I wonder if that's what the benefactor wants. _Flattop knew very well that there was more to this mission than meets the eye. But knowing very well to not steal too many items so as to avoid anyone from getting too suspicious, he signaled his accomplices to stop and they left the room with only twenty three documents in a single bag. With any luck of breaking into the other labs, they would find something else worthy of constructing a portal.

* * *

><p>Back in the expo hall, Hiro, Tadashi, Sora, Goofy, Donald, Honey, Go Go, Wasabi, Fred and Cass were carting the twelve microbot bins toward a circular stage on the right end of the rectangular stage where Tadashi presented Baymax just ten minutes ago. Hiro's heart was pounding in a mixture of excitement and uncertainty as they walked by the astounding exhibitions, a unique feeling of greatness and a remorse of failure should he not win an acceptance letter. Tadashi and the others were also counting on Hiro to groom him into the number one student of San Fransokyo Tech, but Sora was too distracted by the inventions, gaining a closer look at what purpose they could do for his and for the needs of others.<p>

"A lot of sweet tech here today," Sora uttered to the brothers, but Tadashi was nudging Hiro's right elbow, asking him, "How are you feeling?"

Hiro's reply was that of a braggart.

"You're talking to an ex-bot fighter, _nii-san_. It takes a lot more than standing up to the yakuza to rattle my brain for good."

Go Go, having had her time spent with the yakuza, couldn't agree more. But what she really said was:

"He's obviously nervous."

"What makes you say that?" Honey looked at her. "He looks happy to me."

Hiro's alleged nervousness was hidden by his faltering smile.

"You obviously can't see it in his eyes," Go Go said rudely. "My own _halmeoni_ could sense a weakness in a man's eyes from a mile away, and her eyesight is extraordinary."

"I'm not nervous!" Hiro snapped to his new female friends. His smile dropped along the way with every word of pity.

"You're not, Hiro!" Honey called back with a positive sweetness. "Your microbots are amazing! Tell him, Go Go."

"Stop whining and woman up!" was her catch phrase.

Hiro was hard to please with the quartet of nerds that had recently entered his life.

"I'm fine, guys! You don't have to worry about me!"

"That's what they all say," Sora added. "But I'm always the one to disagree. People _need_ each other to create a well-balanced lifestyle."

"Thanks for your wisdom," Tadashi said, agreeing with Sora's comment. "Hiro and I need each other because we are inseparable."

And in a rare moment of pessimism, Sora's reply would have some foreshadowing on what would become of the Hamada brothers. Uncertain as to who he would be talking to, he rotated his head in both directions as he spoke.

"Well, what if you woke up one morning and realized that he wasn't there anymore?"

Hiro assumed that Sora was referring to Tadashi and Tadashi thought the same, but the both of them were perplexed by the quote.

"Likely, but highly improbable," Hiro said. "Like what Tadashi said, he and I are inseparable."

Sora wasn't clairvoyant, but there were moments where he thought that a seemingly innocent and all-the-more perfect of events would go terribly wrong, as he had seen many times in reality and in fiction. Karma was cruel in a twist of Mother Nature's opinion on values of modernism and the outcome of a person's destiny was no joke at all. It was true amongst the wisest of men that nothing was as simple as black and white and nothing in life, as it seemed, was truly, virtuously perfect.

Wasabi interrupted the silence with a smooth smile. "What do you need, little man? Deodorant, breath mint, fresh pair of underpants?"

As they stopped at the stage, Go Go was the one to be outspoken as she said.

"Underpants? Really? I think you need to see a psychologist about your OCD."

Wasabi just shrugged. "My parents have a little OCD in 'em and they think psychiatrists are a bunch of quacks. Besides, I _always _come prepared in the event of an emergency."

Fred sat himself down on the edge of the stage.

"You should talk, Damion. I haven't done laundry in six months. One pair lasts me four days. I go front, I go back, I go inside out, then I go front and back."

After his hands gestured with every movement describing his actions, Wasabi dry-heaved at the morbid thought of folding soiled laundry.

Tadashi, however, was not the least bit moved by Fred's words.

"Wow, that is both disgusting and awesome."

"Don't encourage him," Go Go was offended.

"It's called recycling, FYI," Fred retorted.

"As much as I like to hear about your life story, Fred," Hiro butted in. "I do feel a little worried that I could mess up the whole thing if my microbots malfunction or something."

Fred laughed and pointed to his chest. "Worry not little fellow! Freddie wore his lucky Megazon shirt! Worn by the creator of Megazon himself."

Wasabi frowned at the pungent odor. "Smells terrible."

"I know right?" said Fred. "The creator died of a heart attack in this shirt…adds to the value!"

Go Go was appalled. "_Oh my God!_"

"Are you some type of necrophiliac?" Sora asked in repulsion.

"Actually," Fred disputed. "I got it from a charity auction."

Before he could go into any more detail over how he was able to purchase the shirt, a woman's voice came over the loudspeaker and announced, "Next presenter, Hiro Hamada."

_Photo op! _Honey excitedly drew Sora and the six friends into a group. Cass, Donald and Goofy stayed out of the way. She took out her iPhone, holding it in her right hand as she shouted, "Everybody say 'Hiro'!"

"Hiro!"

And thus, the group selfie was taken.

Sora and the others left to take their places in the audience, leaving Tadashi to spend some solitary pre-show moments with his brother. He placed a comforting right hand on Hiro's left shoulder blade.

"You're going to bring a great honor to this family name, you know that?"

Then he noticed Hiro's eyes having a steel gaze that had once showed enrapture before it had dissolved into skepticism.

"Hey what's going on, huh? Whatever happened to Mr. Battle Bot?"

"Mr. Battle Bot is long gone," Hiro said with maturity in his voice. "I really want to go here…just like you did."

"And you will!" Tadashi clutched his hands on Hiro's shoulders.

"But what if I mess this up?" Hiro fretted. "I even brought the blueprints to make sure I don't blow it."

During his time creating the microbots, Hiro recorded the schematics and workings of the bots on sheets of blank paper with some documents containing his research. He was planning to present the plans on a document camera behind the microbots so that everyone could see how he was able to invent the impossible. Hiro had placed the plans in the vest pocket of his hoodie and he showed them to Tadashi by means of proving himself worthy of a place in his older brother's _alma mater_.

As Tadashi looked over the plan, Breathless came to the stage and asked.

"Will you be needing a certain someone to sing for your presentation?"

Hiro held up the palm of his right hand in a polite refusal. "I've got this covered, Breathless."

She noticed the documents in his other hand.

"May I see what your invention is?"

Hiro was skeptical over this question, treating the chanteuse as if she were a con artist. But he handed them over after three seconds of silence.

"Sure."

Breathless studied the plans carefully. She flipped meticulously from page to page, achieving an epiphany that _this_ was what the benefactor had in mind.

_This could come in handy. _She thought quietly.

But out loud, she handed the plans back to Hiro and said, "They would make a fine dress for my wardrobe."

"I don't think they're meant to act as clothes," Hiro said with an I-don't-know-what-you-are-talking-about expression on his face. He re-obtained the documents and Tadashi was resuming his private moment of great inspiration.

"Hey, just take a deep breath and you have got this."

So Hiro obeyed and he lifted his right foot onto the stage, almost certain not to set it onto the edge, if he should lose his balance and fall off. But with every ounce of courage within his heart, soul and brain, he procured the microphone sitting on the steps and took five small steps onto the very center of the stage, facing Callaghan and the judges with heaved breaths. His cheeks were nearly red and he looked like he was going to say something awkward and rude. Tadashi smiled after him, glad at having nothing more from Hiro other than butting his mind to the best of his advantage. He joined Sora, his aunt and his research team at the foot of the stage where Hiro cleared his throat, clutching the microphone with both hands in a death grip.

"Uh, _konnichiwa_, my name is Hiro-"

Before his last name could be said, Hiro raised the microphone in front of his lips and a small feedback struck the ears of those within a ten foot radius like an electrical charge striking a metal rod, causing the victims to cringe and Hiro turned his head away from the microphone. But the young genius regained composure, not be taken in by his own captivation that was found from within the pensive areas of his mind.

"Sorry," he apologized before attempting a double-take.

"My name is Hiro Hamada, I'm fourteen years old and I have been working on something that I think is pretty cool…and hope that it will amaze you. I hope you enjoy it."

As Tadashi and Sora placed a nearby Epson docucam in front of the stage, Hiro reached into his left pants pocket for his headband and placed it on his forehead. Five pale cerulean lights glowed under his bangs as he lifted the core microbot from his left hoodie pocket.

"This is a microbot," he announced, holding the said object in his left fingertips.

But at four inches tall, the microbot was almost invisible from at least a half-mile away, not even for a blind man to see. The top "thimble" half of the microbot's body bowed twice in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reflex, but a stout man with black hair; Professor Aquino, couldn't have cared less about the inferior size of the microbot given his harmless but presumptuous personality. He turned on his heels and walked away in search of an invention that was (in his own mind) literally larger than life.

Hiro watched him go. There was nothing he could do from a recently obtained illness of stage fright, but his gaze turned to Tadashi, and his big brother came to the rescue by pantomiming his hands as he mouthed a single word in a mute comforting tone:

"Breathe."

Behind Tadashi were Sora, Donald and Goofy, who were waiting in the shadows for something extraordinary to happen. Aunt Cass was staring at her nephew with a casual expression, showing a sign bewilderment in her eyes. Go Go had her arms crossed, a bit disappointed with what she had seen so far. Wasabi waited patiently, putting his mannerisms to a proper vantage point in his IQ level of 136. Fred's jaw was slightly dropped as if he were expecting it to happen like in the number of comic books he owned and chastised for being too predictable. Honey Lemon was in the rear section of the group, a pleading expression on her face as she prayed silently in Spanish.

Tadashi always encouraged Hiro to never stop inventing, and he was not going to let his little brother stop in the middle of the presentation that would change his life forever. Seeing this, Hiro nodded his head by two inches and absorbed a large huff of breath through his nostrils and into his lungs. His heart was calm with complacency and he resumed his speech, smug and confident that he would win an acceptance into the school with his own brother for a teacher. With a quick sigh, Hiro's lips formed a big smile of exhilaration and he continued, this time with courage.

"I know it doesn't look much, but when it links up with the rest of its family-"

He paused for a dramatic effect, and Hiro used his mentality to obey the microbots to link up with one another. The bins rattled and the remaining 1.99 million microbots tipped the bins down on their backs. The lids opened and each group of the ten thousand microbots contained within the bins were reunited with their siblings. The crowd of one hundred and one felt a stirring underneath their feet and gasped as they moved out of the path of the nanobots. Tumbling across the olive green carpeting like stones in a rockslide, the trio of judges looked down, following their eyes at the river of microbots climbing up the stage in a smooth, reciprocating pattern. In their total number, the microbots began to take the form of four pillars, bonding together through electromagnetism into the rectangular shape of a seven foot tall container with circular window structures.

"Things can get a little more interesting," Hiro exclaimed.

He released the core microbot from the grip of his left thumb and index fingers and the bot took off like lighting, generating a jet black ripple as it made contact with its fellow bots. A crowd of people who had witnessed the microbots sliding under their feet (including Professor Aquino) drew a large audience for Hiro, amazed, dazzled and overwhelmed by this new invention. Breathless stood far behind the young genius as Tadashi set up the docucam and projected a schematic document of the microbots' functions on the wall behind the stage, proceeding with one file after the other like a slideshow.

"The microbots are controlled by this neurotransmitter," said Hiro as he pointed his left index finger to the headband. He removed the transmitter and held it above his head with both hands, smiling oddly as the base of the microbots subsided and the entire structure collapsed into a molehill of inactive knucklebones. As the crumbling slowed to a stop, Hiro placed the neurotransmitter back on and the microbots repeated their construction of the container, followed by a chorus of "oooh's" from the witnesses.

"Nanowires feed directly into my neurocranium, allowing me to use the microbots through mental imagery without processing an inappropriate thought. Mentality is the only response of artificial intelligence in the microbots at a high efficiency, even if I do not command them to do so. They cannot self-replicate, but they can be manufactured into large amounts if they should be used for heavy tasks like building the tallest tower in the world. Without a huge load of this stuff, they'd be weak from the fragility of their size, but they are fireproof and they can be used for the good of society. Or in brief, I just think them what I want them to do…"

The microbots whirled around in a vortex, forming the shape of an open right hand waving back and forth on its sides in a friendly way. Behind him, Breathless held her arms and hands out in a universal manner of display, like any showgirl would do in presenting the star attraction.

"And they do it!" finished Hiro.

By now the witnesses were even more impressed by such an incredible display. Sora just stood there in awe. Donald's eyes nearly popped out. All Goofy could say was a quiet "Gawrsh." Honey Lemon's hands were clasped together like she was singing _Hallelujah_ in Latin Spanish. Go Go just smiled with confidence and acceptance on her mouth. Wasabi grinned, Fred's smile was open and Aunt Cass was playfully imitating the hand with own. Tadashi just smiled in satisfactory of Hiro reaching the true potential of his creative genius. In his mind he could only say, _He's going to make _okaasan _and _otoosan _very proud._

"The applications of this tech are limitless," explained Hiro as he took three steps to the front of the stage.

"For example."

He turned his head to the microbots and shouted, "Construction!"

The microbots slunk to the floor and slithered their way to the pieces of unused stainless steel material hiding behind the stage: a circle, a cylinder, wires, four sets of blue fiberglass, thin bars, a silver lid designed with a plus symbol and gold plating. The construction was hidden by hexagonal shapes windows formed by the microbots.

"What used to take teams of people working by hand months or years to do can now be done by one single human being."

Not even wanting to think about the union panting their picket signs for a riot, Hiro hid behind the microbots and three seconds later he was standing on top of an eighteen foot pillar made entirely from the pieces. The crowd was even more amazed by the spectacle before Hiro said, "And that's just the beginning. How about…?"

He took two steps forward and swung his right leg over the edge of the platform. He balanced it in suspension while his left foot was standing on its toes. Pushing his body further off the edge, the audience would have witnessed a fatal impact on the stage had not been for the quantum levitation of the microbots. They caught Hiro by the bottom of shoes and served as a portable platform that created a path for its owner in the front and collapsed from behind once she or he had already crossed it.

"Transportation?"

Hiro was now walking like a giant with extended tractions of his legs. Smith and the two female judges Sally and Annie smiled politely in agreement while Callaghan was befuddled (or least that is how his face was at seeing Hiro's ability to walk on the nanobots), and was trying his best to take in every little detail of the microbots' functions and abilities. His mind was tapping at work on the similarities of his own set of robotics, which had also worked through electromagnetic elements. Breathless kept her eyes on Hiro, then Tadashi, and finally on Callaghan with a sense of trust from the roots of her loyalty to the Apparatus.

"Microbots can move anything, anywhere with ease," Hiro dramatized as the head of the microbots grabbed ahold of the rigged truss. The pitch black mass concealed the overhead lights, creating a tiny spark from the friction of contact with the wires that held one of the purple lights in their place. Hiro was now waist-high in his own microbots, they tipped him over but he did not fall the floor. Instead, they carried him upside down from the interior of his shoes, using the trusses as tracks for a rail vehicle. When he approached Tadashi, both brothers knew that they were in for a high five. At the exact moment, Hiro hung his left hand downwards while Tadashi lifted his right hand and almost as if he wanted to grab Tadashi off the ground and take him for a ride on the microbots, their hands made contact in the best high-five greeting they ever had. Sora who was behind Tadashi, did get the chance for a ride. Wanting his own high-five for all the help he had contributed in the creation of the microbots, Sora prepared for the coming hand, gripped it…and was pulled away from the floor. He was taken by surprise as the microbots turned Hiro right side up from the end of the truss and created their platform for him. Sora just laughed as the presentation was filling up with more and more fun at every second that counted down within the minute.

_I haven't had this much fun since my first quest!_ He squealed from the inside of his head.

Some patrons on the ground took photographs of Hiro and his aerobatic skills with the microbots from their iPhones and iPads. The young Hamada surfed his way to a giant lightbulb looking bubble of plastic glass with a male gymnastic inside and the microbots lifted the bubble nine feet above the ground, forming a flat bridge with a circular arch underneath it. Surprised, the young athletic threw both thumbs up at Sora and Hiro as the bots lowered the bubble back down again.

"If you can think it, the microbots can do it!" Hiro announced as if he were in some sort of commercial.

Now Callaghan was even more impressed, yet almost unfazed. His eyes, along with the entire audience, were completely locked on to Sora and Hiro, who were making their way to the stage. As they were near the column, the microbots formed a spiral staircase; somewhat functioning like an escalator that brought the two boys down onto the stage floor as Hiro landmarked the penultimate tagline of his speech with victory.

"The only limit is your imagination."

Then he jogged his way to the front with Sora moving behind. The microbots fell to the stage in a pile of mount and, what could have been seen as an earthworm shooting up from the earth's surface, was actually the grand finale of the presentation, with all of the bots in their electromagnetic state transforming into one single microbot.

"Microbots!" finished Hiro as the last piece was attached. He held out his left hand to the micro-crafted sculpture. Sora and Breathless did the same. The audience (and a pair of white mechanical hands) clapped their hands together for a standing ovation, Hiro preformed a _saikeirei _in near-syncronization with the microbot, doing the same with it's upper body. Sora bowed like a gentleman for his own endorsement and Breathless sang an improvised jazz tune about the invention.

_They're microbots!_

_(Microbots)_

_They can change in…any shape!_

_(Any shape)_

_Look at 'em go!_

_Look at 'em change!_

_They're the microbots._

_The microbo-o-o-ots!_

It was like a big band number with an acapella and no orchestra. But even as she held the last note for one second, her voice had been drowned out by the sounds of claps, cheers and Aunt Cass' second hoot of "THAT'S MY NEPHEW! WHOO! THAT'S MY FAMILLY! I LOVE MY FAMILY!"

With all the excitement and promising potential for his brother, Tadashi had not felt so proud in his life from the moment Hiro was born. He put the docucam down and ran over to the stage. Goofy and Donald made quacks and guffaws while Tadashi's research team clapped and whooped at the performance.

Throwing the microphone to the stage and leaping his way to the ground, Hiro was met by an overjoyed Tadashi and the two performed their very own hand greeting that was secondary to the fist bump in the act of accomplishment. Hiro clapped his left palm with Tadashi's right, on the back with the knuckles, clashed both fists together and locked their foreheads in close contact followed by the impromptu shockwave of an atom bomb, represented by sound effects and blowing each other away before the pendulum reunited the brothers into a great big hug. The others and Aunt Cass also congratulated Hiro with respectful comments, and even Honey Lemon shared her own hug with Hiro from behind, squeezing him sweetly while Tadashi ruffled Hiro's nappy hair.

"They loved you!" she cried with excitement. "That was _amazing!_"

"Yes," a male voice agreed with her. "With some development, your tech could be revolutionary."

Honey dropped her smile and the group turned their heads to face a thin tow-headed man who appeared to be thirty four years old, if not older. He wore a dark navy suitcoat with matching jeans, black soled shoes and a vanilla colored polyester shirt. Behind him was a slim, dark-haired woman of twenty eight holding a tablet. She wore a rubicund pair of cat's eye glasses, a brownish-grey sport coat, snow white shirt, black pants and sensible shoes. Hiro recognized the pair was none other than Alistair Krei and his attractive secretary/assistant, simply known by the press as Alice.

Alistair Krei was the chief executive, president and managing director of his own technological and scientific company Krei Tech and its subsidiaries. His chief rivals were Oscorp and Stark Industries, both of which were located in Manhattan Island along with Krei Tech's central headquarters. He had been fascinated with technology ever since a childhood trip to Carnegie Mellon University, where he later studied there as a student before moving on to SFIT, making his profits towards the formation of Krei Tech and set up shop in New York, later on to a secondary headquarters in Chicago, which later sparked his idea of a third headquarters to be built in the financial district of San Fransokyo. As a pioneer entrepreneur and a tech guru having studied at two different universities and even making charitable donations of his fortune on poverty-stricken citizens, Krei was always on the hunt for the next big thing, but he had a dark secret, something that even the most honest (and dishonest) of businessmen could not live to share.

Earlier, Krei had his eyes on a brain-wave analyzer near the stage when Hiro's microbots caught Alice's attention and she tapped her right hand twice on his shoulder. When Krei responded, Hiro's speech and his skills with the microbots had drawn his attention, witnessing the impossible dream of nanotechnology in the form of fire ants building a column on top of each other coming true into the face of reality. He decided to wait until the presentation was finished in order to thank Hiro in person. The entire concept of the microbots in all their strength was just what he needed to raise a bonus for all of his employees and even use them to impress the board of directors. So he held out an offering right hand to Hiro, and said a kind and gentlemanly tone.

"May I see it?"

Hiro was bemused at first upon the initial sight of this king of technology and present day interpretation of Steve Jobs. He just stared at Krei with his mouth gawking while Tadashi remained in his curbed state of peace. After remembering himself, Hiro reached into his right hoodie pocket and presented the core microbot into Krei's open hand. Krei held the core in-between his left index and thumb fingers, gaining a sharp view of the object while studying the thimble-like design held by a ball joint.

"Extraordinary," he murmured as he peered three inches closer into the core. He flipped it over like a cigarette and turned to make eye contact with Hiro. What he said next had its charm on those down on their luck.

"I want…your microbots at Krei Tech."

Hiro felt like he had instantly become a major celebrity. Sora and Tadashi exchanged glances of shock when they heard Hiro's star-struck reply of, "_Maa nante koto nanda,_ really?"

"You're about to become a very wealthy kid," Krei grinned like a spendthrift with the tone of a thrifty saver. "Let's say…$100 million?"

"$100 MILLION?!"

The others drooled over their wildest dreams with that large quantity of money.

"I'm not sure what I could do with that load of cash," said Sora, knowing that Donald and Goofy were already wealthy as the closest aides of the king.

"I could give it to the people at ComicCon," Fred suggested.

"I could run a whole chain of sushi places," Wasabi exclaimed.

"I'd open up an international speedway for bike racers," Go Go advised.

"I would have a _real _boutique store!" Honey squeaked. "Maybe even my very own chemistry school!"

Cass, being a café proprietor who knew how to handle money properly, could think of nothing but an upper class life of mingling with celebrities and getting down with the grandeur of social events.

"With that money, I could run the _LARGEST _café in the whole wide world!" she said with fangirlism.

All Tadashi could say was, "Hiro, that's amazing! You've been scouted! Krei Tech has promoters from all over the world! This could be your key to making your dreams come true!"

Hiro felt like he was, indefinitely, the luckiest kid in the world. Everything it seemed, had been handed out to him on a silver plate.

"ME? Work at Krei Tech?" he exclaimed in a mixture of happiness and disbelief. Then, in his own impression of Mia Thermopolis from the film version of _The Princess Diaries, _he added girlishly. "Shut! Up!"

But then Professor Callaghan appeared, as from nowhere.

"Mr. Krei is right, Hiro, your microbots are an inspired piece of tech, and it is incredible that someone so brilliant like you could come up with at age fourteen, but there is always more than just one path: you can either continue to develop them," his voice went strict and deadly serious. "Or you can sell them to a heartless man who is only guided by flaunting his money, abusing his fame and his own self-interest."

Krei rolled his eyes, unfazed by the comment and his smile was locked in place.

"Robert, I know how you feel about me, but this won't be anything like-"

He was cut off by the sound of Callaghan clearing his throat.

"Like I said: It's your decision, Hiro. But you should know that Mr. Krei has cut corners and ignored sound science to get where he is." Callaghan's voice went. "I hear he's been working with the mafia."

For the second time, Krei rolled his eyes. He tried to be civil with Callaghan.

"That's not true," he replied.

"I wouldn't trust Krei Tech with your microbots," Callaghan directed his eyes at Krei with a cold, icy stare. "Or anyone else."

As they quarreled, Breathless had taken the liberty of sneaking her way over to the stage where Tadashi presented Baymax, thinking that a document of the robot was nearby. Within the document, she would a piece that be useful for the portal. So far there was nothing she could see, but she was seen in Callaghan's field of vision as he stared at Krei. The rest of the group had been taken aback by Callaghan's statement and did not even bother to look for Breathless, whose absence had been noticed by Sora.

Krei just clasped his hands together, somewhat reintroducing his proposition to Hiro as Callaghan continued to shoot that stare of anger and fury into his face. His eyes twitched, focused between Hiro, Krei, and Breathless over by the stage.

"Hiro, I am offering you $100 million and that's more money than any fourteen year old could imagine," Krei restated. "With more research and development, they could go beyond disaster relief. They could be used as industrial robots or even weapons."

"_Weapons?_" Hiro's reply was dry of sound.

_He does seem like a nice guy, _said the inner voice in his head. _I could be famous. It's all happening right in front of me and joining Krei Tech will make me as big as Tony Stark or Norman Osborn._

He thought for three minutes and turned his head to Tadashi, almost telling him nonverbally "don't leave me."

At last, Hiro made his decision, knowing Tadashi's place in the institute was where he truly belonged.

"I appreciate the offer, Mr. Krei, but they are not for sale."

"Are you sure?" Krei smiled with the temptation of a used car salesman. "$100 million is a lot of money."

"Not every genius has to be wealthy," Hiro confessed. "Besides, all ever I wanted was to invent stuff with Tadashi. I think it'd be best if we'd change the world on our own."

Krei's smile faltered. Aunt Cass' dreams of upper class life were dashed, but she felt happy with her nephew's decision.

"I thought you were smarter than that," Krei tried not to complain. Then he placed a small white piece of cardboard in Hiro's right hand.

"My card."

The top and bottom halves of the card where blood red with the logo of Krei Tech Industries, a black line with two perpendicular designs, and the name in a market font underneath it. On the back was a picture of Krei with a serious expression on the right and his name "Alistair Krei CEO" on the left. Hiro placed the card into his right hoodie pocket just before Krei and Alice were walking away.

"Mr. Krei?" the two stopped at the voice of Tadashi, whose right hand was extended to reach after them.

"You still have my brother's microbot."

Krei remembered the core microbot in his left hand.

"You have a good eye, Mr. Hamada," Krei replied as if he already knew Tadashi's name. "Almost _too _good."

And given his experience as a little league baseball player, tossed the microbot back to Hiro and caught it just in the nick of time.

"If you change your mind, let me know okay?" Krei said to Hiro one last time before walking away. Alice took a final look as well, following her boss at distance of three meters.

"I wonder if he's right?" Hiro murmured

The words made him reconsider, but Callaghan laid his right hand on his shoulders.

"You did the right thing, Hiro, and I'll be sure to have your microbots in safe keeping."

He removed the plans from the docucam and produced an envelope with the SFIT seal in his right hand.

"I'll look forward to seeing you in class," he said and he left the group towards the stage where Breathless was looking around.

Hiro took the envelope, opened it, folded out the paper and the others crowded in to see him read the letter with excitement.

"Dear Hiro Hamada,

Congratulations!

It is with great pleasure that I inform you of your acceptance to San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. I am confident that you will benefit from the wide range of academic and extracurricular programs at SFIT and contribute to the technological existence that defines this remarkable university.

We recognize you for your already exceptional achievements in robotics-most notably your microbot technology. Now, through your admission to SFIT, you will have to opportunity to with an elite group of students from around the world. We are confident that you will be a valuable addition to the student body and will uphold the university's tradition of technological excellence.

The faculty and students are looking forward to welcoming you to our campus this spring and helping you make a smooth transition to university life. In the meantime, we encourage you to visit the Academic Center to learn more about the programs we have to offer,

On behalf of the entire San Fransokyo Institute of Technology community, I extend a warm welcome and best wishes to your success.

Sincerely,

Robert Callaghan, Ph.D."

"I'm in!" cried Hiro with zeal.

After some whoops, jumps and cheers from brother, aunt and new friends, his fate had been disclosed.

On the stage, Callaghan found Breathless, her back turned, searching vainly for anything Tadashi would have left behind.

"Looking for something Ms. Mahoney?" Callaghan startled her. She turned around to face him with a low gasp.

"Oh, Mr. Callaghan, I thought that since-"

"Are you looking for these?"

He showed her the plans and she caressed them carefully into her hands.

"Why are you giving these to me?"

"You're the only one I can trust, Breathless. I need a third party to keep them safe from Krei."

He whispered into her right ear.

"He's planted a bomb inside the building."

Shocked, Breathless cupped her right hand to her mouth.

"A bomb?!"

"Shh," Callaghan hushed her. "I don't want to cause a panic."

He looked left and right, certain as to make sure that no one was watching them.

"Go ahead and get out while you still can. I'll try to locate the bomb, and if I do, leave the plans at my house."

"And if you don't?"

"Wait until your benefactor gets wind of this."

Callaghan disappeared behind the stage. Breathless, fearing that there was little time left for the bomb to go off, had no time to say a proper goodbye to Tadashi or any of the other guests.

"Goodbye, Tadashi," she whispered to herself and she scurried her way out of the building as she held a firm grip on the plans, making sure that none of the documents fell out of the envelope. As she pushed her way to the door, Tadashi, who still by the sage, noticed something.

"Has anyone seen Breathless?" he asked Fred.

"No clue, buddy," Fred replied.

"Do you think she left?" Go Go wondered in suspicion.

"Not without saying goodbye, she wouldn't," Wasabi observed. "I'd never leave my folks without a proper good bye."

"Maybe she's gone to check out the snacks," Sora said simply.

"Well, wherever she is," Honey muttered to herself. "She's gone now."

Tadashi was still uncertain as to her whereabouts, but he couldn't wait until the reception when Hiro would be officially awarded into the institute. In a most unusual act of relationships, the brothers would now become teacher and student in the field of robotics.

On the other hand, Breathless was already back in the entrance by now. The desk manager, who had been busy recording the final results of the showcase in his notebook, noticed her huffed breaths as if she had running from a wild animal that tried to attack her.

"Done so soon?" he asked.

Breathless saw the manager and forced a plastic smile as she said hurriedly.

"Yes, it's been a long evening. I've got to get some rest for tomorrow. Goodbye!"

She waved her right hand for a split-second and the manager did the same, albeit slower as he thought that she was going somewhere very important. Then she dashed out of the building, hurried down the steps, down the path to the parking lot and stopped. She remembered Flattop and the BlackBerry in the right knee of her dress. Breathless took it out and rapidly dialed Flattop's number, looking back to see if Tadashi's party had left the building, yet they had not.

* * *

><p>Back in the robotics lab, Flattop and his gang had broken into Tadashi's lab (again with the help of Crewy Lou's bobby pin). With their flashlights, they inspected the area for anything useful. Mumbles meticulously scanned the file cabinets, taking anything he could see into his right vest pocket. Itchy and Crewy Lou did the same, looking through the named labels of the files and envelopes for anything portal-related. Measles, silent and still as a soldier, stood on his guard for any members of the security team from the frosted smart glass. Lastly, Flattop and BB Eyes were hacking into the computer, copying all of Tadashi's files from the machine with a junk drive (or at least half of it given the disk space allotted).<p>

"I just hope we don't get ratted out for this," Flattop muttered. His left hand was curled on the desk drawer he opened it to find a sketch of Baymax with some technicalities and specifications of the material he needed. BB Eyes, observing from his vision on the junk drive, tried not to laugh at how ludicrous he thought it looked for a robot.

"What's that? A doodle?" he asked to Flattop. B the anvil-headed crook was imperturbable, and without even having to respond, he heard his cell phone ring.

Certain that it was Breathless, he answered, "Where've you been, toots? The guys and I have been in here for almost an hour."

"I got what I came for," Breathless responded hastily on the other line. "But we've got to leave, _NOW_. I heard from Professor Callaghan and he says there's a bomb in the showcase hall."

Flattop heard every word based on her speed, but at first he was doubtful. "Ya sure about this?"

"Yes," Breathless, said a little slowly this time. "I think it's time we went back anyway. So get the car ready and I'll meet you by the entrance."

She hung up, taking one last look at the expo hall and raced her way to the front office on fast feet. Flattop closed the cellphone and placed it back into his pocket. He understood that Breathless was aware of the time, but he seemed unsure as to taking her story about a bomb in the building too seriously. He called to his fellow hoods quietly.

"Let's shake a leg, guys!"

With their bags full of one hundred and fifty five documents and plans for the supposed portal (and perhaps a little more so as not to be upset from going over a wild goose chase). Flattop and the hoods peeked their heads out of the corridor to witness a heavy-set guard with chocolate-brown skin and night black hair walking down the hall with a flashlight in his left hand in the opposite direction. He disappeared from sight into the main laboratory.

"Lezmov," uttered Mumbles, and the criminals rushed to the elevator, but not before Crewy Lou went back and made sure that the door to Tadashi's laboratory was shut and locked all the way, as it had been when they first arrived. When she came to the elevator, the guard heard the sound of the doors closing, and they were by the time he went over to investigate. He could have sworn to have made out six figures from his sight just before the door closed and went to check the security footage to get full look of the suspects from the security room, but by the time he got there, the perpetrators had vanished and all that could be seen was the silhouette of a car driving away from the entrance.

Now the first thing Crewy Lou did after informing Flattop, was run straight to the parking lot. She did not wish to suffer a repeat of riding in the trunk and had more than likely assumed that Shaky would be kind enough to let her ride in Breathless' car for the trip back to Club Ritz. When she got there, Shaky was listening to Ritchie Valens' _Donna_, the second song on slide two of the album in a state of relaxation with no vibration from his body. It soon returned, however, when Crewy knocked her right hand on the window the passenger seat four times and startled him. At first he thought it was Breathless, but closer inspection with her hairstyle while carrying almost the same shade of blonde, recognized as Crewy Lou.

"Do you mind if I ride with you back to the club?" Crewy asked in fast haste.

Shaky lowered the volume dial down by thirty decibels.

"Where's Breathless?" he asked from the closed window.

"We're switching cars," replied Crewy as she tried to open the door. "The job's been done."

She succeeded and Shaky spared no time for an argument now that the heist was over. He backed the car carefully away from Cass Hamada's pick-up and forwarded towards the entrance.

At the front office by the gates, Flattop's Toyota was waiting for Breathless. It had taken no less than a minute for her to show up, as she came in with the microbot documents cradled in her arms and was running as fast as her heeled shoes would let her. There was no time to put Breathless in the trunk, so she ran to right rear door where Flattop was seated and was taken by surprise when he took her into the car on his lap.

With his seatbelt fastened, Flattop called to Itchy, "Okay, drive! Drive!" and the irritable hood slammed his right foot down on the gas petal, worried that someone back in the robotics lab had called security. The Toyota sped off down the street and the Auburn followed after them in quick pacing. Budged in-between Flattop and Measles, Breathless showed him the microbot plans, relived that none of the papers had fallen out as she regained her breath from a long-needed exercise.

"Maybe the benefactor will make a portal outta these," Flattop chuckled.

"Do you think we'll come back tomorrow night for some more?" Breathless asked. "Just in case we didn't get the right stuff?"

"Not exactly. As wanted men, it'll be a week before we do that again."

"Did anyone see you?"

"Depends on who you ask," Flattop said. "Anyone who _looks_ at me can see why."

The car squealed away into the night.


	6. The Death of Tadashi Hamada

And so as if they had won the lottery, Hiro, Sora, Tadashi, Cass, Donald, Goofy, Honey, Go Go, Wasabi, and Fred all came out of the building with a cheer, swinging the doors open to a whole new life of respectfulness. Hiro lifted the acceptance letter in his right hand with a victory pose, Go Go pushed the right door open while Fred kicked the other one open with his left foot and lifted his arms up while Wasabi pulled on his hands with a "Whoooooooo!" as though he was straightening the invisible straps on his shirt. In the back, Honey was excited, giving the younger Hamada son a cheer and a look of pleasurable concern while Tadashi just smiled as his aunt jumped up with raised hands in synchronization with Fred's.

As they walked down the steps, Sora patted Hiro the back with his left hand while Donald and Goofy cheered on for Hiro with a "Congratulations!" "Many happy returns!" (Though Goofy did not know Hiro's birthday) and "Good luck with your schooling!" At the bottom of the stairs, Cass raised her left fist in the air with zeal, shouting in sing-song. "Dinner's on me!"

Fred was so excited, he practically jumped off the second step of the staircase. "Yeah! Whoop! Nothing is better than free food unless it's moldy!"

While the four friends, the duck and the dog went on ahead, Sora and the Hamadas stayed behind while Tadashi asked, "Aunt Cass?"

She turned around.

"Is it all right if Hiro and I be alone for a few minutes?"

Cass could not help but agree in all of her boiling excitement. "Sure," she said sweetly.

Then, hammering her hands with vehemence, she added, "I'm so proud of you!"

She grasped her arms behind Hiro before her left arm pulled Tadashi into the hug. Cass placed her head in between Hiro's head and Tadashi's right elbow as she quipped. "Both of you! So proud!"

"Yes," the brothers chorused.

Free from the triple hug, Cass scooted in between her nephews and ran off to join the others, gasping quietly to contain her uncontrollable enthusiasm.

Sora, who had been watching the whole scene, couldn't help but giggle at the over loving nature of Ms. Hamada's mama bear-like personality. He lowered his eyelids for a split second and turned his back to avoid seeing Hiro and Tadashi's reaction at getting embarrassed over a hug, but by the time he turned back to face the brothers, they were already walking away with Hiro following Tadashi to a dark corner of the campus grounds behind a bush and over a small pond.

Hiro winced at his brother. He was gazing out at the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab from the garden bridge.

"I know what you're going to say," He lowered his octaves to match a pretty deep impression of Tadashi. "I should be proud of myself because I'm using my 'gift' for something important."

"No, no." Tadashi confessed. "I was just going to tell you that your fly was down during the whole day."

Hiro's reply, like any other response to his sense of humor was sarcastic and completely dry of enthusiasm.

"Ha-ha, hilarious."

_But just to make sure._ Hiro looked down at his tan trousers to see that his brother was telling the truth.

"What?!"

Tadashi let out a short laugh and poor Hiro, full of distress and embarrassment, zipped it back up to the top. While he was getting dressed earlier that morning, Hiro had neglected pull his fly up, since it was already unzipped the last time he had used it. For such a genius that he was, the young boy had several flaws, and neglecting his clothes was one of them. After Tadashi's laugh had died down, Hiro slammed his right fist into the left arm for such mannerisms of a crude comment. The older brother chuckled a little more, reacting to his pained arm before peace had been established in his self-control.

Tadashi had a satisfied breath of fresh cool air when he looked at the lab, quietly uttering to Hiro: "Welcome to nerd school."

They looked out at the picturesque view of the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab, which glowed like a shining star; basking the light in darkness and illuminating Tadashi's face with a fluorescent blue when he looked at Hiro with a quiet "nerd".

Hiro smiled and Sora, who had been sitting on the opposite railing from the Hamada brothers, shook his head with pleased reactions all over his smile. Then Hiro said:

"Hey, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, so… thanks. It's what I came here for. I guess bot-fighting really is a path that can result into just… wasting your life in prison."

Tadashi could only agree. "You don't have to say that. I mean it's true, but you don't have to say it. I am proud that you finally learned your lesson."

The Hamada brothers smiled and nodded at each other for a moment. Sora turned away, gazing at the details of the pond that lay underneath the bridge: a black surface of water, a couple of lily pads, three lotus flowers and a statue of a toad that could be seen more clearly in the daytime.

Suddenly, there was an alarm, which threw a loud "BEEP!" one second after the other.

Sora looked around for the source of the noise, saluting his left hand over his forehead, he turned left, then right before he saw what appeared to be smoke coming from the distance. He did not wish to believe what he was about to expect.

"I hope it's just a tailgate party," Sora whimpered.

When they turned back to go and collect Hiro's microbots, they were surprised to see black smoke billowing from the showcase hall. It seemed impossible, but the hall had burst into flames! Crashing and exploding shards of debris, glass and rubbles of concrete filled the air.

As Hiro and Tadashi ran towards the burning building, they saw people running to get out of the way, gasping and coughing. The front windows were nearly engulfed in flames as the brown smoke had pressed against the pagoda roof, trying to free itself from the frames that turned the glass into flash paper. Sora and the Hamada brothers could not believe what was happening, everything was going so well until it had turned into one of the worst catastrophes the institute had ever seen; smoke was rising over forty to fifty feet in the sky. It was a terrific display of smoke and flame that came crashing down to face reality with its cruel heart and not having any second thoughts for humanity to share and be left alone on Earth without a blast of death to torment their ever so perfect lives like a serial killer who was jealous of those who lived in a happy little town with perfect houses, perfect families, perfect children...perfect _everything_, and that killer struck it's blow hard, by killing it's beloved ones...

Pushing their way through the panicked crowd Tadashi stopped before a judge, the dark haired female named Sally came into his arms. She was holding her right hand over her heart as if she had suffered a heart attack and Tadashi could see a bruise on her left cheek.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Sally tried to breathe, the smoke taking effect of her lungs. "Yeah, I'm okay. But Professor Callaghan is still in there!"

As the words processed into his hearing, Sally ran off with the crowd and Tadashi looked out at the building for a second, then he rushed to the entrance at an intense pace, out of fear and out of reach from his mentor. He was still unaware of Breathless' departure, and began to consolidate the fact that she too was still inside the building. Hiro knew his brother was going to try and save the professor, and to do it, he would have to be so brave and so selfless, that he dreaded the thought of Tadashi giving up such a fine life for another's. So just as the elder was about five feet away from the steps, Hiro grabbed the olive sleeve of Tadashi's left arm and held him back as hard as he could, shouting to the point of tears.

"_Onii-chan_, NO!"

Tadashi tried to pull away as he reasoned with his brother. Hiro could see that his expression was pure of fear and unpredictable concern for the fellow teacher he saw as an adoptive father and a blonde chanteuse whom he had been trying not to fall too deeply in love with for three years.

The older brother turned his head back at the pale red light emitting from the windows of the very same doors that they had just left behind a few minutes ago looking happy and carefree at Hiro's success. Tadashi hid his desperation with a clean and exciting thought that he could top it all off by trying to save Professor Callaghan and Breathless from the fires of Hell that threatened to disintegrate their entire existence into ash (even though he was completely unprepared for such a dangerous task like this one).

He turned his head back to the worried face of his brother. They were both scared of losing one another, but Tadashi had to be brave; just as he always was.

"Callaghan is still in there! Someone has to help! Breathless could be in there too!"

Hiro just kept holding on like the immature child he used to be, thinking of a better alternative.

"Can't we just wait for the fire brigade?! They could help too, you know!"

Tadashi calculated the fire department's estimated time of arrival: 45 minutes. The showcase hall was known to have been equipped with heavy duty air conditioning and gas tanks that, if short circuited by the flames, would explode in a matter of minutes.

"It will be too late by then!"

"What about me?!"

He turned back, to face his brother as though he had been drafted into the army. Going to war...and never to be seen..._again._

"Take care, _otouto._"

Hiro reluctantly let his hands go of his brother's arm and he silently watched him go up the stairs and into the showcase hall. A brave fool just asking to end his life at such a young age. 21 years was too early. As he made it to the top of steps with the sound of his feet dying away, a strong gale of wind followed by the velocity of his run had caused Tadashi's San Fransokyo Ninjas cap to blow away from his head and flew on for yards until it landed in Hiro's hands. Observing all of the details, colors and some strand of Tadashi's hair that was stuck in the threads, Hiro knew that he could not wait forever, he and Tadashi did almost everything together like the true brothers they were and wherever Tadashi would go, Hiro would follow.

So what was he waiting for? He still had enough time to convince _onii-chan _that firefighting was for professionals only, so he sprinted forwards and ran up the steps to where his and Tadashi's destiny would lie.

Sora, having seen everything from afar as he had been trying to help the crowd to safety, looked over the heads of young men and women to see Hiro running into the hall. As one of the lucky few to have been chosen by the Keyblade, Sora's instinct to help the people he saw with universal personality kicked in, and pushing through the bodies of five more men and three more women, he charged towards the entrance, shouting for Hiro just as he opened the front door...and into the burning hall.

"Hiro! Don't be a fool, Hiro!"

Inside was an inferno, with flames licking the walls like parasites. Some of the inventions were partially destroyed, ruining the other contestants' chances of entering the school, even though their dreams were already crushed when Hiro won the acceptance award. But through the heat scorching his eyes and the black vapor of smoke clouding his skin, Tadashi saw the figure of Professor Callaghan standing in front of the stage where Hiro's microbot presentation had taken place just a few minutes earlier with his back turned to the young man. Before Tadashi could move a step further, there was a loud noise that sounded like a bullet coming out of a gun, and then a split-second later, he cried out, feeling a sharp pain in his forehead as if it had been struck by the bullet and covered it with his left hand.

To make matters worse, he heard a large beam crack above his head. The infrastructure had been weakened from the flames that immolated it to the breaking point. The broken beam could not hold anymore and falling to its end, pinned Tadashi's legs down, causing him to fall face first along with slabs of strong concrete that fell from the eruption of the beam and plummeted to the floor, surrounding Tadashi and covering him with pieces of metal, kicking up dust and smog as he was partially buried underneath the slabs. Holding his breath to keep any of the fire, dust and smoke from entering his lungs, Tadashi was certain that the slabs could possibly keep him safe...but only for a little while.

Inside the front hall, Sora was still trying to convince Hiro, grabbing his left hand like a strong rope trying pull a beached shipwreck out from the low water.

"We must get out before it's too late!"

"I'M NOT LEAVING TADASHI!"

Sora looked over Hiro for about a minute. He could almost hear something that went...

_Tick, tick, tick..._

And then, sensing the approach of doom, his right hand lifted the Kingdom Key into the air and he shouted a very short incantation the moment it stopped.

"_Reflega!_"

A spray of light formed from the tip of the Kingdom Key and created a dome of hexagonal shapes that surrounded Sora and Hiro until they were hit by a bright light that did not seem to have any ounce of strength to break the shield. Hiro shut his eyes, waiting for the end in silence as the fire and smoke had rushed past him and feared that if it would break the shield, they would be consumed by the flames.

Outside, the immolated expo hall looked like the gates of Hell, with its burning characteristics of flame and doomed souls, slowly writing in agony for their sins. Cass and Tadashi's research team, along with Donald and Goofy, had seen the explosion from her pickup and, fearing for the brothers, ran to the scene of the disaster just as the fire brigade arrived in their truck after forty five minutes, exactly as Tadashi had predicted. The Crimestoppers had followed them to the scene in Dick Tracy's unmarked Crown Victoria, and the detective himself had pushed the door open to feel the heat of the burning building coming down upon him like a hot monsoon in Georgia.

Inside the hall, Hiro broke away from Sora before the older male could react and went further into the flaming room in search of his brother. In a ring of flames that was completely dry of fire, he looked through the black surface of fragments and Hiro knelt down on his knees, staring at the injuries inflicted on his brother in horror, but he could not scream at what he had to see.

Three streams of red and black blood trickled down Tadashi's nose from a big splotch on his forehead. A seven-to-three inch scar had lacerated his left cheek, almost resembling a Glasgow smile. Broken bits of slab, rusted steel, ceiling fixtures, overhead lights, cracked embers and the dust of cinders trapped the lower half of his body up to his waist. Worst of all, a purple shiner was located on the bottom of his right eye and the rest of his face was peppered and singed with smoke, sweat, ashes, grease burn marks and black soot.

Opening his eyes, he smiled at Hiro, relieved to see his brother. His was vision was blurry, but he could tell that it was Hiro, and in his left hand was his favorite cap.

"Hiro…"

His vocal chords were weakened from the dust and the blast that were filling his lungs when he tried to laugh.

"I see you found my cap."

Hiro smiled back to see that his brother's heart was still beating with the breaths of his lungs.

"Yes, I did," the younger brother replied tearfully.

Tadashi closed his eyes, letting the warmth of the fire sooth the cold interior of his pain. The beam had struck his head so hard, that he did not know where he was anymore.

"Are we safe?"

Hiro moved his head closer, determined to keep Tadashi alive at all costs and wait for Sora or anybody from the outside to come to their rescue.

"Yes," Hiro wept, trying to keep his brother's hopes up. "We'll be safe until someone finds us."

The older Hamada smiled, it didn't matter if he wanted to be rescued or even wish to die from the exposing heat of the "fireplace", which made his blurry vision look like it was in all directions.

He tried to lean in closer, but the rubble was holding his legs back, so Hiro moved a few inches closer until Tadashi's free hands were caressing the younger sibling's face. He croaked...

"Hiro? _Daisuke._"

Recognizing it as Japanese for "I love you", Hiro replied, "I love you too, Tadashi" in his native tongue.

"_Totemo, __Tadashi_ _daisuki da yo._"

Tadashi smiled, he was at peace and so was his brother (or so he thought). Satisfied, he closed his eyes for what would be the one... final... time...

Hiro felt Tadashi's head going limp, and in spite of the heat of the fire surrounding him, he tried to shake the lifeless head by the temples.

"Tadashi? Tadashi!"

Hiro had hoped that Tadashi was just in a deep sleep...

But his eyes were already closed as the younger Hamada took in the hard truth, _rigor mortis _had set in... and he was dead.

The scars and dust on Tadashi's face, his lifelessness, his closed eyes of eternal sleep and the loss of color from his tanned skin had left Hiro completely inconsolable. Quivering his lower lip, he unleashed a scream so loud the whole city of San Fransokyo could hear.

"TADASHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

He buried his face against the sooty markings of Tadashi's tarnished features, and some of the blood leaking from the splotch on his forehead was staining Hiro's hair, nose and eyelids. Fresh tears of grief mixed the blood with liquid and they fell directly in-between the living and the dead as Hiro moaned out of agony, drowning in angst over the very person he loved in all the universe.

"No... I don't want this..."

Then he lifted his head up, where the black smoke travelled all the way to the distant heavens.

"_OKAASAN! OTOUSAN!_"

He lowered his head back down again.

"Please save Tadashi..."

The volume increased.

"Someone...someone help! HELP TADASHI!"

Then it lowered.

"_Nii-san-_"

But Hiro had to admit reality, for a life without Tadashi was becoming too unbearable. He collapsed in front of his brother's corpse and shut his eyes, waiting for the flames to overtake him and Tadashi and incinerate their bodies to a crisp.

But it never came...

* * *

><p>At the Club Ritz, Big Boy was waiting in the conference room, checking his left hand watch to see if Breathless, Flattop and his gang had made it back from the heist. The watch read 6:15 and the reception was supposed to have ended over an hour ago according to the showcase schedule. For the actual time it had taken for the showcase to transpire, he remained sulking in the conference room, eating small servings of chicken chow mein and egg foo young as he read the morning newspaper. The headline "Tech Mogul To Build Headquarters In Financial District" showed a picture of Alistair Krei with eight business associates behind a scale model of the proposed building on a sleek wooden table.<p>

_That bastard's gonna get what's comin' to him. _Big Boy glared as he turned the paper over. He was ready to admit that the phone call had affected him greatly and he was ready to spill bloodshed in what was to be another "crime of the century".

But then, he was relieved to see the door open. Standing in the doorway was Flattop and Measles with Itchy, B-B Eyes, Mumbles, Crewy Lou and Breathless crowded behind them.

"I was wondering when you were goin' to show up," Big Boy exclaimed.

"What makes you say that?" asked a perplexed Flattop.

"I saw it on the news."

He pointed to the flat screen TV that was stationed above the fireplace. On the screen was a helicopter shot of the SFIT expo hall in flames that were was big as a brush fire in Argentina.

"Would any of you boys like to tell me what caused the fire?" asked Big Boy, drumming his fingers together.

Breathless stepped in-between Flattop and Measles, explaining. "It was bomb, or so I think."

"And why didn't you find it?"

Measles spoke first. "We didn't have a chance, Big Boy. We didn't know where it was and we didn't have the time for it. At least we managed to get Breathless out before the whole thing went up like a fuckin' Roman candle."

The men continued to watch the television screen in awe as Breathless pushed herself against her fellow companions and sat down on the very end of the table next to Big Boy to get a closer look.

"Authorities are currently investigating if this was arson or an accident," the newscaster spoke. "Two casualties, Professor Robert Callaghan and 21 year old robotics engineer Tadashi Hamada have been pronounced dead at the time of the explosion around 6:10 P.M."

Breathless was in shock and disgust when she saw the pictures of Tadashi and Professor Callaghan displayed on-screen. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she concealed her face with her left hand.

_If only I had warned him about that bomb. _She moaned in her head.

Big Boy had seen this, and he decided to leave Breathless alone with her thoughts. Checking his watch he added, "Well, gentlemen. Time for bed. We can discuss this tomorrow while the funeral's goin' on."

He pushed Flattop and Measles out of the room, and shut the door behind him, leaving Breathless in a broken mess of angst.

_Sometimes I wish I wasn't so much of a hopeless romantic._

* * *

><p>At 5:55 in the morning, Dick Tracy oversaw a makeshift memorial placed on the front steps of SFIT. It consisted of two framed photographs: one of Tadashi on the left side and Callaghan on the right side. In between the photographs were seven candles made from <em>mokurō<em>, with one of them placed a step down from the other six in a wooden bowl. A bouquet of calla lilies were placed next to the candle by Sally and a bowl of miniature bamboo plants sat in-between the candles, flanked by cherry blossoms; symbolizing the cycle of life and death.

A clap of muffled thunder came overhead in the surly blue sky of dark clouds and Tracy looked up in a surprised reaction. He did not hear the weatherman mention any rain, but if the funeral was today, a dark shower and grey skies would be very appropriate for a day of mourning.

So Tracy walked back to his two-room apartment in the Ashbury District after a short ride on the cable trolley and let himself into the cold, but nicely refurnished room where the radio was playing "Love the World" by Perfume on a quiet volume. Tracy could see that Tess had already been showered and dressed for the day, but she was still asleep in her husband's red easy chair from neglecting to drink coffee, her head nestled against the left arm like a discarded doll. When Tracy put his hat on top of the dresser, he woke Tess with a kiss on the right cheek and she yawned, "What time is it?"

"6:25,"

Then he told her the sad news.

"Did you hear about the fire last night?"

"Yeah, it was on TV."

"Tadashi Hamada and Robert Callaghan died in that explosion."

Instead of feeling doleful like she was supposed to be, Tess leapt from the chair and snapped into action. She grabbed her green coat from the rack and hastily put it on.

"Oh, I have to get to the greenhouse! Where there's death, there's a funeral and where there's a funeral there's flowers that need to be picked out, like calla lilies and delphiniums."

In her hurried breaths, she looked down to make sure she was wearing shoes. Her black slippers were fine but her emerald green dress was too natural to fit the gloomy atmosphere.

She continued to ramble her motormouth monologue as she reached for the door.

"Tell Junior I won't be home until I get the flowers, and make sure to invite some people over for-"

"Tess-"

She turned back at the sound of her husband's voice.

"There's no need to rush."

"I know I shouldn't," smiled Tess. "But I'm just trying to be a good wife and good mother since, well…I haven't made my own nest."

Tracy knew that he and Tess had not yet been blessed with any children of their own and the chances of pregnancy were 20 to 60 in his mathematical mind. By any rate of sexual activity, it would be a year or two before their own child would be conceived in Tess' womb.

As he leaned in to kiss her, Tess said, "Do you want me to make the arrangements as well?"

Tracy shook his head no. "Not yet. I think Ms. Hamada will do it for us."

Tess grinned. "Call the Plenty family, then Mrs. Steele, Toby, Vitamin-"

"He's going to visit Snowflake in L.A.," Tracy interrupted.

Tess' smile dropped into a frown of realization. "I see. When Junior gets up, go to Goorin Brothers and get two veils: one for me and Lizz. And don't plan on calling my mother, I'll tell her if I get the chance. When Cass makes the arraignments, tell everybody what time the funeral begins and I should be back around…"

She checked her watch.

"Ten o'clock."

He leaned in and gave her a soft, sweet kiss. Then with a glowing smile, Tess was out the door and out of sight.

"By the way Tracy," she called back. "It might rain today, so you'd better get your umbrella!"

Tracy closed the door and frowned with an upset sigh. Getting a _black_ umbrella for a _funeral _was one thing, but the arraignments were something he had to talk about with Ms. Hamada. So he went over to the phone and made sure that Junior was still in bed. The kid had been sawing logs since nightfall based on his position. Walking back to the phone, he dialed Cass' number and after a three second dial ring, her snarky voice came over the line.

"Hello?"

"This is Detective Tracy, ma'am."

"Oh, Mr. Tracy, I…Are you calling to talk about the funeral?"

He pulled out his notebook and prepared to write down the time.

"Yes, what time is the funeral?"

* * *

><p>Thirteen minutes later, Tadashi's funeral was all planned out. Twenty people were invited to the Sunset View Cemetery at eleven and so was the police department. At Mike's Diner, Mary Steele and Toby Townley were having plans of their own. They sat behind the counter as Mike was washing the windows, looking out at the crestfallen sky from the safety of indoors.<p>

"Do you have a black dress?" asked Toby.

Mary sighed. "None, unfortunately. I sold my last one after Hank died."

"I can get you one," Toby assured her. "What size are you?"

"Size 10."

"Veil?"

"Not really. Mr. Tracy bought one for his wife."

"Gloves?"

"Size 7."

"Shoes?"

"I'm all right with these."

Mary clicked her black boots two times to show Toby the size she was wearing. A size 12 to be exact.

"And I don't see the need for a handkerchief," Mary resumed. "But if they have a tissue box, I'll get one from there."

* * *

><p>A while later at St. Agnes Catholic Church on Masonic Avenue, Mary and Toby brought rental umbrellas for the occasion. As they got out of the car, the rain came down on them, pouring thin sheets of water on the black fabric of the parasols. By then, a few people were there: Diet Smith, Brilliant, B.O. Plenty, Gravel Gertie, Sparkle, Chief Brandon, Mr. Patton, Mr. Catchem, Mrs. Worthington-Grove, the Tracys, and two news reporters from SBN: Christmas Early and Wendy Wichel.<p>

Christmas Early was an attractive woman with long black hair held by a red bow tie and was known for her flamboyant outfits with animal patterns like cheetahs or tigers (on this day, she wore the pattern of a black panther). Wendy Wichel also had dark hair and slim features, but she was not seen without her salmon colored hat with a large floppy brim and a small feather from a duckling that stuck out from the top of the band. She also wore a red turtle neck sweater and a simple dress made to match the pigment of her hat. Last, but not least, she wore sensible shoes and had a strong anti-Dick Tracy bias ever since he used excessive force on the criminal Shoulders during an attempted hijacking at San Fransokyo International Airport. The plan was a simple kidnapping and ransom case, involving Shoulders taking the shanghaied passengers upstate to Washington for a hefty ransom of $5 million. Tracy, who was on-board for similar reasons the other passengers had, refused to co-operate with the criminal's demands and took Shoulders out with a fierce beating. This, along with Tracy's record proved to be a controversial subject for Wendy, and she saw the hard-boiled detective as nothing more than an out dated mindset toward justice and police conduct, with some friends at the _Tribune _calling her a traditionalist with a heavily modern mind.

As she took her seat in the last row, Wendy looked back to see Ms. Early standing three feet within shooting range of a cameraman and a microphone in her left hand, ready to report the scene. Then, four seconds later, the door opened to reveal Cass Hamada wearing a black dress and by her side was Hiro in a suit with a white shirt and black necktie. Ms. Early turned to address the cameraman as Hiro and his aunt sat down in the front row, eyeing them with a considerate look before she spoke into the microphone.

"Good morning, San Fransokyo, this is Christmas Early reporting live from Saint Agnes Church on 1025 Masonic Avenue where we find a funeral in progress. The science world was stunned today by the sudden deaths of robotics scientists Robert Callaghan and Tadashi Hamada in last night's explosion at the Institute of Technology's expo hall after the annual student showcase for new applicants. The cause of the explosion has been attributed to either arson, sabotage or a minor mishap. In just a few moments, we will switch to Wendy Wichel to get an inside scoop on the late Tadashi Hamada, who is survived by his aunt Cassandra and younger brother Hiro."

The funeral was growing hard for Hiro. He was feeling the emptiness in his body since last night when he was pulled out of the flaming wreckage by Detective Tracy and woke up in the morning wishing that it had been all a dream. After he was recovered, Cass' dinner plans were cancelled and Tadashi's research team went home to mourn for their best friend and leader of the club. Hiro went to visit the morgue with Cass, but seeing Tadashi lying there in that coffin only gave him the pain of cancer (or at least his own metaphor of grief). He wanted to have him back in any way that he could…but he could not.

The undertaker had placed Tadashi's body in a thin layer of candle wax, because of what the fire had done to his skin. Even with a ton of scars and injuries, Hiro still needed him. If Tadashi was disabled, Hiro still needed his comfort. If Tadashi was mentally injured, Hiro would always be there to give _him _the comfort. All the same Hiro felt as though he could not exist without Tadashi and looking at his corpse made him wish, that in terms of bearing the greatest loss, he too would have his own coffin and his own tombstone, right next to his brother.

Then, along came Sora in a black outfit that was given to him by the three good fairies from eleven years ago that were said to have special powers called "Drive Forms" that would grant him a separate set of abilities and an alternate color pattern to his clothing. He decided not to bring Donald and Goofy to the funeral, thinking too much of how their lighthearted personalities would clash with the other mourners.

After three quarters of a minute Go Go, Wasabi, Honey and Fred all came to sit with Hiro in the front row. Fred, lacking his beanie and upbeat personality, wore a suit looking exactly like Hiro's and so did Wasabi, who wore a grey bandanna for the occasion. Honey's outfit was compromised of a black, long-sleeved dress with a belt and a white peter pan collar, with black stockings and her hair sown up in a modest bun. Go Go's dress was nothing compared to Honey's and it looked very similar to Cass' dress, which was the same dress she wore on the day her brother and sister-in-law died in that car accident from no more than a decade ago.

After sitting down next to Aunt Cass, Fred was the one to speak first. "You should have seen the cars parked, I almost thought that no one was coming to this funeral."

Go Go shifted her eyes to the right in confusion of Fred's unrelated comment. "Don't explain it to her, Fred. It's not _his aunt's _funeral that we're here for, now shut up and be respectful."

Go Go would have loved to say "shut the hell up" in front of a congregation, but seeing the statue of Christ, in his crucified form, made her think twice before uttering one word of profanity in God's house, even though she and the other Asian-Americans of San Fransokyo were Buddhists.

Respectful as they were, Honey and Wasabi had nothing to say. Wasabi just preyed in silence while Honey dabbed her eyes with a coal black handkerchief.

After the pastor made his prayer, Wendy Wichel walked up to the front with Christmas Early's cameraman and held the microphone in front of Hiro's mouth.

"Mr. Hamada, any words for your late brother's demise?"

Hiro dared not to look directly into Wendy's eyes. He just continued to stare at the coffin and could only lower his voice to a volume that only she could hear.

"He was a good man."

"Anything else?"

"Taught me right from wrong?"

Hiro's reply was pathetic in his own mind.

"Well, that's what our readers buy, Hiro. A person who is bought up right."

The boy wanted to share his thoughts with not just one person, but the entire crowd, so that everyone present in the cathedral could feel his pain.

He told Wendy, "I've got the eulogy all planned out in my head."

Wendy smiled and standing aside, let Hiro walk in front of the coffin where he tried not to look at Tadashi's pale body that contrasted with the night black of the suits they wore. Avoiding Tadashi's embalmed aroma of typical men's perfume, he stood in front of the pulpit, letting the priest stand by his right hand side in military fashion, and delivered his eulogy to the congregation without a single feedback from the microphone, unlike last night at the very showcase that changed his life for eternity.

"Aunt Cass…everyone else I know…today, is the day I cried real hard for the first time. And I say this not only on behalf of my brother, but the death of our future. Tadashi was the light that showed me the way out of bot-fighting and into the field of science and robotics where I truly belonged. I had no other way to thank him for that other than the stuff we created in the past: microbots, a nursebot, and maybe even a makeshift airplane just for two."

Hiro and Cass smiled at the happy memories, she dabbed at a tear sprouting from her left eye. She felt a strong heartthrob when Hiro's tone slowly began to carry a mean streak.

"Tadashi wanted to help a lot of people, but our dreams were dashed by the fires of destruction that blew that showcase hall and my brother to ashes. Never again will I be able to feel love, but agony, and I'll be happy again-when I'm dead and buried next to my brother."

Cass gasped at such negativity. Sora cringed. Tess and Lizz exchanged glances, thinking otherwise about the latter of Hiro's speech before the young Hamada continued.

"At least there is one upside I can think of…"

He paused and cloaked his Adam's apple with his left hand, what he said next was something that inspired every member of the congregation.

"Tadashi is not really gone…as long as we remember him."

A standing ovation, a loud applause sparked by Aunt Cass and Sora and a wreath of white roses followed later. Wendy, the only one who didn't clap but held a mutual respect for Tadashi, turned to face Detective Tracy, who just glared at the upcoming thought of a controversial question that Miss Wichel had ever so adored in asking him about.

"I understand that you were only able save the kid and not his brother," Wendy piqued. "So tell me, Mr. Tracy: are you happy with what you've done to make the child so miserable by not saving his brother?"

Tracy tried to reason with her. "It's not my fault Wendy, I didn't get there in time. Now why don't be a good reporter and find someone else to pick on?"

Wendy was insulted and unarguably upset over the off-handed insult, but she didn't feel any sympathy for anyone who did not deserve it. After Hiro's eulogy was praised for the iconic final line, she shoved the notebook into her leather handbag and stormed out the door. She had better things to do besides attending a disheartening funeral.

* * *

><p>When Breathless heard about the funeral from the morning obituary, she told Lips "I'm just going out for some fresh air" and he excused her. She swaddled into her black mink coat, and headed out the door, intent on walking all the way to the cemetery since her lavender colored sports car, a 1935 Auburn Speedster, was too bright and cheery for such a dour occasion and therefore would clash with those who were dressed in mourning.<p>

At the very moment Breathless opened the club door, she received a shot of the cold air rain that came down upon her head. She brought an umbrella that matched the texture of her coat, shielding herself from more than just the cold, but her downtrodden emotions as well. With only $5 dollars and a penny to her name, she walked to the florist shop on Powell Street and bought a bouquet of white roses for a $1.95.

Then she settled off on foot in the direction of the Sunset View Cemetery, pushing through a forest of crowds as the raindrops fell upon her face and began to smear her makeup. Her mascara turned to blue water, her eye lashes became black paint and her red lipstick transformed into a trickle of blood that went right down the middle of her chin. Breathless didn't matter what was happening to her anymore, all she wanted was to get out of the vicious wind that stung her eyes. She couldn't even tell the difference between a raindrop or a tear that was leaking down her left cheek as she walked, head bowed, eyes closed, without a single complaint as she practiced her prayers for the young man she would never have again.

Everyone around her seemed too busy with their own lives to even notice a beautiful starlet, except for a pedestrian who admired the cover of her album _I'm Breathless _and took a quick shot of Breathless from across the street. He had recognized her fur coat from a photo-shoot six months ago and were posted online on the photographer's portfolio website. Breathless was too far away to acknowledge the young fan, her head was entirely lost in thought.

* * *

><p>At the Sunset View Cemetery, Detective Tracy checked down the position of those who would be partaking in the funeral procession, his fellow officers Murphy, Mulligan, Milligan and O'Malley agreed to act as pallbearers. They had known Tadashi on the day he and Hiro were caught and arrested at the bot-fight, which struck their hearts very hard when they heard about his death. Hiro, Sora and Cass went first behind the coffin, followed by Tadashi's club, then Tess, then Junior, followed by the Plenty family and the other mourners. Tracy, the chief and his fellow Crimestoppers led the way in front of the coffin to a small hill where Tomeo and Maemi Hamada lay resting in peace.<p>

Sora motioned a very quiet and despondent Hiro over to the coffin and flat granite tombstone reading "Tadashi Hamada (2011 – 2032)" written in traditional Japanese script that was situated next to his parents on the left hand side.

_At least he's with Mom and Dad now._ Hiro thought to lift his spirits, but his heart sunk when he realized that Tadashi was the only person he believed to have had a true connection to his mother and father. Never again would he hear any more stories of Mom and Dad, the parents he could hardly remember, the two people he had been with for the first four years of his life who wound up being killed in an auto accident. He did not think about his aunt, he did not think about Sora, he did not think about anyone else but Tadashi and he still remained that until after the burial was finished.

"Don't feel like you're being left out," Detective Tracy assured him later on. "I lost my brother, too."

"Gordon Tracy?"

"Yep, and I promise you this: if what happened at the tech was an arson case, I will find the person responsible for this."

Hiro heard him, but he did not take the comfort too seriously. He just stood there with Aunt Cass's left arm holding his right shoulder, emotionless, continuing to observe Tadashi's coffin being lowered into the grave until it was covered with dirt turned to mud from the rain.

After the coffin had been completely covered with six feet of brown earth, the other mourners returned to their cars while Hiro stayed alone by the grave, resting his knees in the fresh mount and the caretakers didn't seem to mind at all about any ruin of the fresh tomb.

_Why did you leave me?_ Hiro whimpered in his head. Fresh tears combined with the raindrops that fell upon his face and washed his wild hair could only describe a dark shade of loneliness in the pit of his heart.

He remained there for at least seven minutes, clutching the tombstone like it was an actual person and a groundskeeper came up to him with a bouquet of white roses wrapped in transparent foil. Turning to face the groundskeeper, he asked, "Whose it's from?"

"Some blonde lady in a fur coat," the man told him.

It became clear to Hiro that he knew who it was: Breathless Mahoney was only blonde in Tadashi's life who wore fur and Aiko Miyazaki was not seen with anything animal related on her person unless if it was plastic or linen. Then, getting a cold from the temperature and the rain soaking his head, he slowly walked back to join his aunt and the other mourners back at the Lucky Cat Café where the wake was to be held.

* * *

><p>By the time Breathless had arrived at the cemetery, Tadashi's coffin was already buried and the mourners were leaving. A few of them looked up to notice her, Tracy apologized to her for missing the funeral, Sora looked at her with sympathy and Aunt Cass waved her left hand with a small and tearful "Hello." Breathless could not find Hiro in the crowd and she wanted to know from him about the gory details of Tadashi's demise, she turned her head back twice to make sure that she did not miss him and came face to face with a brown haired groundskeeper who asked politely, "May I help you?"<p>

Breathless shoved the white roses into his personal boundary.

"Would you mind placing these on Tadashi Hamada's grave for me, please?"

The kind man took the flowers and they both turned away from each other in the opposite direction, never looking back and after a two minute trolley ride, Breathless sadly returned to Broadway Street, downtrodden and dismayed.

She strode her way up the street where she was greeted by the blue neon sign of Club Ritz, glowing in the shower with a warm, friendly light. The dim lights sourcing from the third floor windows told her that Big Boy was having a meeting and she walked inside the showroom to see the band playing "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" in the middle of a rehearsal.

Hanging her coat on a rack by the front door, she walked across the empty showroom and greeted the orchestra with a smile. Then she headed up the stairs to the conference room to find the others, hands clasped, eyes closed and heads bowed in a long moment of silence. Nobody seemed to notice her and no one seemed to flinch at the mouse-like squeak of the door opening when she came in. All of the male criminals were dressed in black tuxedos while Crewy Lou wore a simple black lace dress and Texie Garcia wore her casual outfit with her red gloves, shoes and earrings replaced with black ones. Taking her seat next to 88 on the left side of the table, Breathless copied his position very carefully and prayed for a long period of remembrance, but unfortunately for her, it did not last very long.

After five minutes, Big Boy snapped out of mourning and slapped his right hand on the table to make his next announcement.

"Allright! Put the word out! Tadashi Hamada and Robert Callaghan's territory is our territory now! Any invention of those who were working for him will soon belong to us! And everything that they owned...WE OWN!"

Giorgio Spaldoni, sitting on the opposite end of the table as usual, raised the glass of whiskey in his right hand, "Well said, Big Boy."

Lips did the same. "To the Apparatus."

With all of their glasses raised to propose a toast, the criminals chimed in unison, "To the Apparatus."

Then they all clinked their glasses from the opposite sides of the table and took a swig of the whiskey, letting the beverage clear their throats. Flattop and Crewy Lou, who were sitting next to each other on the right hand side of table, clinked their own goblets and took an extra sip. The two smiled at each other for the successful robbery even though Flattop's mind was preparing on a confession to Crewy for making her ride in the trunk, while she was thinking the same thing.

Big Boy, in the meantime, just sighed and began to wonder about what he was going to say next: the truth. His following comment sparked a conversation on his ultimate goal.

"I never thought that such a thing would happen. But you cannot intend things the way you want 'em to be."

Crewy Lou had realized the full impact of his remark. Smirking, she said, "You didn't think this up?"

Flattop mopped his brow before he added, "So you're not the arsonist?"

Big Boy tried to hold his temper over the god-awful question as he explained, "Well, I was an arsonist, but that was a long time ago, and I always put the past in the past where it belongs."

He stared at the criminals for eight seconds, making sure that no one else would asking anymore dumb questions.

"What the hell do you think this is? A game of 'wrongfully accused'?"

"Of course it is!" answered Flattop. "What's the point of murder if you don't know what really happened?"

"Before we get onto that subject," Big Boy announced with a strict right index finger, "Let's get down to detail."

Everyone prepared to listen.

"When I said that Callaghan and Hamada's territory was ours, I was just euphemizing the fact that my wish to have the both of them popped came true. They, along with Alistair Krei, were a part of my secret outfit to rebuild the Apparatus when I told everybody I was reformed. A project on residual payment of the workers union that I like to call 'the people's silent partner'. Every time some citizen bought a pound of hamburger, we got a nickel and we gave it _them_. Every time some guy got a haircut, we got a dime and we gave it _them_. And every time _someone_ donated his blood to the hospital, we got a dollar and _we _gave it to _them_. All by controlling unions. It's sorta like a backwards deposit. They were like my own version of the rotary club and the Chamber of Commerce. But it was not their deaths last evening that ended my involvement with 'em. It was lot earlier than that."

Ribs Mocco reflected upon this. "I remember it too. So do Lips, Breathless, 88, Spaldoni and Texie."

The criminals who were unfamiliar with Big Boy's secret unit wanted to know more, especially Sketch Paree who asked him, "When did it end?"

"When Tadashi decided to tell me that he had enough money to support himself and... left the business," Big Boy continued. "He and Callaghan found out about my true colors and went back to their business at the Tech. I didn't know what Callaghan's problem was, but all he ever said was that the criminal network was all thoroughly a cheat in life. For some reason, he and Hamada never spoke to me again and I thought that it was unjustified to leave us-invalids in our time of need to fit into this oh-so perfect society of American and Japanese combustion."

B-B Eyes was trying to understand his words with sensibility, "If the Hamada guy was a saint, why didn't he or Callaghan report you and your actions over to the authorities?"

"Tadashi and Callaghan had half of my protection money before they left, and being scientists, they decided to put the dough to good use, to clean 'em of their sins and make some helpful robots out of it. Or, so I have been told."

"And what was their role in all of this?" asked Measles.

"I gave them whatever money Lips and I could get our hands on through extortion and legal enterprises. The kind of enterprises we understand.

The criminals who were unfamiliar with Big Boy's secret unit wanted to know more, especially Sketch Paree who asked him, "When did it end?"

"When Tadashi decided to tell me that he had enough money to support himself and... left the business," Big Boy continued. "He and Callaghan found out about my true colors and went back to their business at the Tech. I didn't know what Callaghan's problem was, but all he ever said was that the criminal network was all thoroughly a cheat in life. For some reason, he and Hamada never spoke to me again and I thought that it was unjustified to leave us-invalids in our time of need to fit into this oh-so perfect society of American and Japanese combustion."

B-B Eyes was trying to understand his words with sensibility, "If the Hamada guy was a saint, why didn't he or Callaghan report you and your actions over to the authorities?"

"Tadashi and Callaghan had half of my protection money before they left, and being scientists, they decided to put the dough to good use, to clean 'em of their sins and make some helpful robots out of it. Or, so I have been told."

"And what was their role in all of this?" asked Measles.

"I gave them whatever money Lips and I could get our hands on through extortion and legal enterprises. The kind of enterprises we understand. I gave the secret outfit what they wanted, whether it was protection from bullying or a fund to the American Cancer Society. But it was a big mistake on my part, so I wrote a serious demand to make them think twice before crossing the line with gangsters, but they never answered me and I did not hear from anyone else about them ratting off on my enterprise system. Lips and I were still makin' profit-"

He trailed off to observe the stolen documents which were locked away in the safe.

"And it seems, that the price of their silence...was that we stole all of those invention plans for nothin'."

"Except for the microbots," Breathless reminded him.

"But the microbots are useful only to our benefactor," Big Boy corrected. "And to sum it all up: Their turncoat behavior along with Tracy putting an end to my old business preyed upon my mind and created a vision: A new San Fransokyo where everyone is completely imperfect."

"The way _I_ see it," Pruneface said. "It's already got an imperfect society."

"But, as I said two nights ago, my John Q. Public is like all of us; ugly, discriminated and twisted," Big Boy said. "It was also because of my short time in prison that I resolved to have Tracy and the traitors face the death sentence themselves. It seemed to me the best way to do it-and to free you all from the same burden of social outcasts-was to get us all face to face, make our business with the rogues of this nation, wage war on the law, confront Dick Tracy and his Major Crimes Squad, detract him of his rights and punish him along with the rest of everyone who's been so mean to you."

Relieved at the understatement, Spaldoni nodded at Lips, who said. "So...everything is explained?"

"Well nothing's explained," Breathless spoke, shaking her head. "We still don't know what caused the fire. Even if it was a bomb."

"So what they do for a livin' again?" asked Oodles dumbfoundedly.

"In case your hearing wasn't so good Oodles," Texie replied impassively. "They were scientists for San Fransokyo Tech. Robotics division."

"What were they really like?" inquired Spots. "Influence told me he got kicked out of that school because of them."

"And _my_ contact lenses were the core reason," Influence explained emotionally. "But that does not make me a murderer."

"A lot of students got kicked out because their inventions were too hazardous," said Mole. "And to continue the question Texie, what were they really like?"

"I didn't know too much about them other than in parties and social gatherings and such, but from what Big Boy told me before they left was that Tadashi was a very optimistic Samaritan and Professor Callaghan was a smart cookie who had a lot on his mind, like tragedy. His wife died of cancer and he had a daughter, didn't quite catch her name, who um...I forget."

Texie was unable to say it, but the men looked at her in suspicion before she continued.

"Why shouldn't I be held responsible in this game of 'misplaced accusations'? I was at the movies when it happened."

Coffyhead took a sip of his cappuccino before he asked her out of curiosity, "What was showing?"

"_Public Enemies._"

"Sounds very fitting," approved Itchy.

Big Boy's reply was irreverent. "You confess your innocence?"

"Why should I care? Now that they have accepted the big sleep, we can just move ahead and carry on with the plan."

Caprice smiled and the criminals left their seats in hushed whispers, leaving Breathless and 88 Keys to themselves without a word.

A while later, Breathless was alone in her dressing room, gazing at the bulb-lined maquillage mirror and observing the portions of her makeup that was smudged by her tears and raindrops from being in the deluge for two hours. As she stared at her guilty facade, she thought about Tadashi. Her face seemed to harden, almost bursting into tears at any moment.

She heard the door open and knew that it would be 88, about to comfort her with sweet nothings into her ears, but this time he did not.

"Hi, baby," she said, looking at his reflection. "Come to sooth me?"

"Yes, I have," the pianist replied. "How are you holding up?"

Breathless turned in her seat. "Not so good. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

"You must have loved him a lot more than me."

Breathless could almost feel the jealousy and rancor in 88's reply.

All she said was, "Jealous much?"

"Not really."

She sighed in relief.

"If you liked him so much Breathless, why not sing for him in his honor?"

A sudden mixture of an epiphany and an inspiration had crossed her mind.

"Exactly my point."

She sat up and strutted towards her black Shoji screen to change into something more suitable for the performance that would honor the memory of the young man she cared about the most.

* * *

><p>As many subjects have done before in the event of one's passing, Cass had to close the café when the funeral party decided to spend the wake at her house. At first, she thought that serving her best meals would be enough for the rainy afternoon as the skies grew darker with shades of black and grey, but halting the business only justified in disrespecting the dead (or so she thought).<p>

_Someone up there has got it in for me, I think it's fate._ Her jade pendant which represented protection from evil seemed to have failed her, and when Tadashi's research team comforted her with a cup of hot chocolate courtesy of Honey Lemon, the warm liquid consoled her throat and her bothersome stomach, her stress eating mood having calmed down. Surrounded by Honey, Go Go, Wasabi and Fred, she made peace compared to Hiro, who was sitting at the top of stairs, jacket removed and too depressed to speak to anyone else as he listened to the various comments and statements about Tadashi that resonated from the living room.

He heard Chief Brandon's voice, almost sounding as though he was talking with the Crimestoppers as he said, "The worst thing about this is that Tadashi will never get to be at my retirement party."

Then he heard Detective Tracy having a falling out with Tess.

"I'm going to work this case first thing tomorrow morning, and the least you can do is give them your best support!"

"Support? When my father died, Mother and I had to mortgage the deli."

Tracy's reaction was far less upsetting than what Hiro had imagined.

Tess continued to ramble. "I have been by your side for five years and I have put up with those who have seen me as nothing more than the average woman who cooks and cleans and washes rather than something more risky, like a private investigator!"

He heard footsteps that told him she was leaving before he heard Sora confronting Donald and Goofy.

"How was the service?" Goofy asked him.

Sora's voice was broken. "Well…Hiro made a speech…we gave our best wishes…and that's about it."

Donald spoke next. "And you didn't bring us?"

"I didn't want to embarrass the others, with you two acting like fools and such."

Sora began to sniffle. "I'm sorry, I-"

After three seconds, Donald asked, "What?"

"I think we should leave him alone for a while. It'll help with the pain."

Hiro began to understand that he could not talk to anyone anymore, and so, after Sora left the café for home, he decided to walk back up to his room and curl himself into a ball on his bed sheet.

Tadashi's room was all that was left to him, now that his brother, his dreams and their future had vanished overnight. He looked at the journal on his desk and flipped to his latest entry with weak loathing and strong denial, writing slowly, "I'm gonna go celebrate with Tadashi and his friends. I can't wait to start classes!"

After a second or two, Hiro wanted to tear it up, knowing that it was a silly dream that would never come true, but he could not find the métier to accomplish it. Preserving it as a sign of what almost was, he turned to the next page and violently scribbled a black void of emptiness to represent the emptiness, sorrow and acrimony in his heart. The poor thing could not believe the events of yesterday, had he had known what was to happen he would have grabbed Tadashi's arms and go back to the café with his aunt and friends for dinner, but of course, he could not change the past. After purging the two pages into darkness, Hiro went to the next page and placed a few items in the last moments he had with his brother: Tadashi's obituary from the _Tribune_, and a violet rosemary from the funeral to symbolize the essence of remembrance. It was pressed and wilted with tape as he placed on the new page, writing underneath it:

"RIP Tadashi, I miss you.

I just can't believe it. Tadashi is dead. Gone. Forever.

I'm DONE with this journal, I'm DONE with inventing and I'm DONE with life. What's the point?"

Hiro could feel his thoughts and emotions speak back to him as he wrote, grasping a mixture of anger and sadness that was created by the very moment Tadashi's soul left his body and was summoned straight up to Heaven above his charred remains.

He was sitting at the foot of his bed when Aunt Cass came in an hour later after everyone else had gone home.

"I just wanted to let you know that Tadashi's friends sent their regards."

Hiro could not hear her in his traumatized state, he just kept staring at the floor as though a puddle was there and he was looking at his reflection inside the spilled water, although he did manage to utter a small and quiet complain that grew louder with his angst.

"Why did he have to die? Why did he have to go in there? Why couldn't he stay with me?"

Cass sat down behind him on the bed and gently stroked his hair with her left hand.

"Sometimes these things happen, Hiro. We can't all be immortal."

Hiro stiffened at the words and his face was a mask of woe.

"Why can't we be?! If there was a way to be immortal I would find it like the genius I'm supposed to be! Tadashi and I could even find a cure to stop people from dying of cancer."

"Hiro-"

"It's all my fault! If I just held on a little longer…he would still be with me."

He finished by slamming his fist down on the bed sheet. Cass could hardly believe what she was hearing as he sobbed quietly, forming small, indescribable tears.

"I just can't forgive myself…I can't…I can't."

Hiro wanted to break down, but instead he turned to his aunt and buried his face against her soft chest, not wanting to lose her either.

"He just wanted to make your mom and dad proud by going in there and rescuing his favorite teacher," Cass assured him.

"You mean if he got out in time," Hiro was quick to reply, and his eyes were squeezed tight, letting the tears stain Cass' black dress, knowing that his aunt would be there to comfort him, soothe him and tell him that things will get better in the end, just as Tadashi had once done a long time ago when he told his then four year old brother after Mom and Dad died that everything would be all right.

After she left the room, a newfound thought and motivation came into Hiro's mind. He turned back to his journal and wrote an additional eleven words under his last entry:

"I wish everyone would just leave me alone. Why? WHY? **WHY?**"

* * *

><p>That night, amidst rain, overcast skies and neon lights, the Club Ritz was completely booked with no vacant seats. Guests from high estates were greeted by the round faced mustached bouncer who wore a bottle green uniform as a waiter in a red jacket trimmed with black and gold parked a limousine near the periphery of the private garage. For the kitchen staff, it was one of those nights where the orders were frantic and they did their best to cook whatever food was already prepared in the stove, fridge and oven, not having that much of a capacity since the opening night many years ago.<p>

The showroom of the club was decorated with a black marble dance floor, with a stage for the band, a red carpet floor surrounded by glass and chrome fittings, three lanterns, cream white walls, a bar table on the left and a red ceiling. A caravansary of fifty-eight people played roulette and blackjack games in the back, losing money over a charity fund for the two victims of the fire and a revolving wall with a table for two on one side and a 21 table on the other appeased two socialites for its functions. Cigarette girls passed out chips and cigarettes with trays that could easily be flipped without spilling the contents and a slot machine located on the right was also attached to a revolving wall. It was the perfect place for a modern day speakeasy.

The orchestra, consisting of two saxophonists, two trumpeters, a drummer and a guitarist with 88 Keys leading on the piano, were warming up for Breathless' upcoming performance with an instrumental rendition of "Cocktails for Two", followed by "I Get a Kick Out of You". Breathless, on the other hand, had been sitting at the mirror in her dressing room for ten whole minutes, applying her red lipstick and face powder for a ghostly complexion. Her hair shimmered with a pinch of glitter and so did the sequins on her skintight backless black gown.

She had been practicing and memorizing her new song for almost four hours, making sure that not a single lyric was to be missed, all the while feeling like she was about to make her farewell performance. She frowned and pouted at her reflection in the mirror, scraping at it with her right index nail, but did not leave a permanent scratch, assuming that Big Boy (who had gone home with the other criminals to their apartments) would not approve of a lounge singer trying to undertake the beauty of a film actress.

Despite this, she put on a strong face for Tadashi and when 88 came knocking on the door saying "Five minutes to show time," Breathless stood from her perch and strode her way to the dance floor. There she was bathed under an ocean blue spotlight and gazed out at the unrecognizable faces that were either too busy gambling in the back to notice her or were fixated on her appearance. She almost had stage fright as she stopped for second before the bandstand, having second thoughts as she saw Lips at his favorite table like always, eating a plate of oysters with small slurps that turned loud with cringe-worthy efforts. Keys handed the DPA microphone over to her as he set up his own mike, a portable one, for the radio broadcast.

When Breathless reached the center of the stage, he tapped the microphone sitting on the cover of his piano and made the announcement as he always did. The crowd went silent as feedback from the tapping attracted their eyes and ears.

"You're listening to the tunes of Club Ritz, here's a new one from Breathless Mahoney in honor of the San Fransokyo Tech fire victims Robert Callaghan and Tadashi Hamada."

The crowd applauded. 88 started the opening notes and Breathless took a deep sigh. Then, ever so smoothly, poured the hurtful lyrics into the microphone.

_"Everywhere I turn I hurt someone..."_

She turned her back to the crowd and hugged herself as though she were hugging Tadashi or even her mother Elia, whom she had not been in touch with since the day she came to work at the club. Lost in thought, she remorsed on the depressing background of her torch number.

_"But there's nothing I can say to change the things I've done..."_

Lips, 88 and several of the club's patrons (thirteen of them at least) observed her odd turn before she turned back to face the crowd with her left hand on her hip and her right arm hanging low. The power of her voice was growing stronger with emotion as she continued with the lyrics.

"_I'd do anything within my power, I'd give everything I've got. But the path I seek is hidden from me now..._"

As Breathless' song echoed into the night, an awful truth dawned for poor Hiro: There was no way he could bring Tadashi back through scientific means, and he knew that whether it be cloning or robotics, was futile. Or at least that was what he thought, because now he was on his own, in the night, the second night without _Onii-chan _to comfort him. But by putting his thoughts to focus on the positive side of his energy, remembered back to the times when he and Tadashi were carefree and happy. Doing things like, observing the Tech showcase from afar, building that bouncy bed or even building rocket boots for Mochi.

"_Brother bear... I let you down..._"

Like any other kid would do whenever he was sad or scared, Hiro would climb in bed with Tadashi, who told him that dreams would go away whenever there were two people in bed, because it would be much too crowded the dream to enter. This only proved to be half correct, as Tadashi was the one who turned Hiro's bad dreams into good ones.

"_You trusted me, believed in me and I let you down..._"

He even missed all the times of Tadashi punching him in the nose whenever he whined like the brat he was on certain days and nights until he matured greatly over the years. _Onii-chan_ was very strict, but very loving, which how he ended up at the institute in the first place.

"_Of all the things I hid from you, I cannot hide the shame…and I pray someone, something will come, to take away the pain..._"

He didn't want to even think about that dreadful place, the place that claimed Tadashi's life with the cruel nature of life itself. If he hadn't gone there in the first place, Tadashi would still be alive but his words was firm that he do something with his brain and it was his intelligence that paid the price.

"_There's no way out of this dark place. No hope, no future…_"

Hiro, lost in darkness with no energy or motivation to live for, saw nothing in his life but gloom and doom. Then he went unhappily to sleep in the comfort of his room as the raindrops vanished away from the windows.

"_I know I can't be free. But I can't see another way. I can't face another day…_"

Finishing her song with a strong exhalation of her lungs, Breathless gave a standing ovation and an applause from the patrons, the staff and the band members. To them, it was her best performance yet, despite the short nature of the song. She walked across the dance floor over to Lips' table and sat down on his right side where he slurped the last oyster. At least she would not get to see him eat loudly this time, she was more interested in the 14 karat gold case of cigarettes that he had been saving for her on the table. The case was already open with eight cigarettes placed on each side and she grabbed the first one on the left.

"Cig me," she said holding the cigarette in her right fingers.

"Sure," He snapped open the gold Zippo lighter and placed the flame on the rolling paper to light it up. Relaxed, Breathless inhaled and blew a smoke ring over her hair. Lips found it classy while she herself appeared uninterested, remembering that Tadashi was one of those "anti-smoking activists" who never had a weed of tobacco in his life.

"Breathless," he said to her. "That was beautiful as always."

Breathless tried not to shed a tear, the strong emotions of her song were starting to overwhelm her.

"I'm so happy you liked it," she replied.

"I love it. You're singing great."

"Aren't I always?"

Then Lips thought of something that had been buried in the dark caverns of his mind when Breathless started her singing career.

"You know something? After Big Boy pulls this job off with the benefactor, I'm gonna get you a movie deal. You'll be a lot happier on the big screen where they can see you and it'll make you a lot famous than you are now."

Breathless tried to sound interested. "Oh, and when might that be?"

"Soon. After Big Boy turns this burg into our haven for the invalids, the mutants and the outcasts. For now, we've just gotta lay back for a few days after the dust settles, hire some new recruits and we'll be back in business."

"That's nice," she said, not wanting him to look at her tears.

After three seconds of silence, Breathless asked, "You mind if I go to bed?"

"So soon? It's 8:30."

She turned to reveal the tear marks.

"I think the tobacco is starting to hurt my eyes."

"Suit yourself."

Luckily for her, Lips didn't seem to care if she was crying. He just ordered a glass of champagne and let Breathless excuse herself from the showroom with her head bowed in narcolepsy.

_Well, that was a poor excuse. _She thought as she entered the dressing room and dropped down on the bed in a tangled position.

* * *

><p>Try as she might to publicly address her response to the late Tadashi Hamada, Breathless' song had become a sleeper hit by the time all of San Fransokyo was awakening. Hiro woke up in his bedroom feeling bright and early. The screen to Tadashi's side of the room was halfway open, so he walked over to the bed on steady feet, hoping that the events of yesterday was just a dream, and his brother would be there to hug him and liberate his self-conscious depression from the reality that had been a nightmare, but the bed was empty.<p>

_He must be at school._

Then he remembered what happened.

A parade of images flew into his head, each one showing a graphic method of Tadashi's death by an unseen killer: a knife wound, a shot to the stomach, poisoned by drinking, a hammer bashing his crown, black hands crushing his throat, the final one ending with Tadashi being hit by a truck.

Reality had come back to remind him that _nii-san _had died on the very day of his acceptance into the school. The irony of good and bad all in the same combination.

And so, Hiro spent the rest of the day with dread, thinking of a sorrowful life without Tadashi by his side. He limped to the bathroom, and knowing that Tadashi wanted him to take extra care of his teeth, brushed up and down like a stock-boy who was already losing his energy from the hard labors of handling a crate. He only touched a morsel of his ham and eggs for breakfast and did not dare to acknowledge Aunt Cass who was sitting alone and dreary in the kitchen, and did not seem to care about her impatient customers due to the empty hole in her life that was Tadashi. Mochi was resting by her legs, curled up into a ball and resting without a single doubt in his life, but to Hiro, he felt that Mochi did not carry a drop of sympathy over the fact that Tadashi was dead and the life of a cat was nothing compared to humanity in all of its tragic losses and downbeat memoirs.

As Hiro made his bed around 6:15 p.m., it was hard to ignore that Tadashi sadly, would no longer sleep in his own bed. And so, feeling bad for it, Hiro walked over to Tadashi's side of the room and landed face first into the pillow. His pajama clad leggings pulled the blanket down to his waist and his arms pulled it up to his neck. Snuggling his face into the pillow, he smelled the sweet scent of Tadashi's cologne and caressed it into his lungs with placid huffs. Looking up at the poster of Breathless Mahoney in her black and white debut poster with the words "Vogue" in a large font, Hiro, wondering if she too was as mournful as he was feeling right now, hoped that another song of hers would sooth him to sleep. He switched on Tadashi's boombox radio (at a low volume so that Aunt Cass could not hear) and made sure that it was tuned in on the call sign CRR. Just as he hoped, he heard the voice of Breathless preforming the near tear-jerking tune of the classic song "Over the Rainbow".

"_Somewhere over the rainbow…way up there…there's a dream that if you can't dream…really can't come true…_"

But while she tried her best to remain strong, the thought of Tadashi on her mind was causing her to mess up some of lyrics, and Lips, knowing that something was wrong with her, sought help from Shaky. Even though he was her stepfather, Shaky simply explained, "She gets it from my side of the family."

Following the events of that night, Breathless regained composure and amended her audience at the club with a strong recovery, and preformed her next song "Everlasting Love" without a small crack in her voice. The next night she performed "Somewhere That's Green", "Blue Moon" by Dean Martin the night after, and five nights later, "Open Your Heart to Me". By the next week, after her rendition of "True Blue" proved to be a favorite among her backup dancers, the Ritz Girls, she remained clad in her skintight dresses of dark and shadow. In fact, like many women before her, Breathless had decided to go through a long period of mourning by wearing nothing but black straight from her wardrobe, from a tight black leather dress to a waist-high side slit festooned with feathers around the neck. As it was customary for women to go through a long period of mourning, like queens for instance, a songstress of her stature would go through a month of black. She began calling herself "chanteuse de la noir".

Of course, Hiro wasn't the only one going through the stages of grief, but his friends/club members were also in remorse for their fallen friend.

Honey Lemon spent the first week moping in her room over the countless photos and selfies of her and Tadashi together at college from her iPhone: the campus, the prom, Tadashi's graduation, the completion of Baymax and the showcase, the last photo of Tadashi alive (not counting the autopsy and the pictures of coffin). She spilled a few tears over the man she loved, and did not dare to leave her room until college started back up again. This was so that she could rediscover a peace of mind, a peace that told her not to give up on her life.

Go Go had taken Tadashi's death with a hard blow, which subtracted every ounce of her fast paced personality down to a mile. She was slow in doing her bike messaging deliveries, going at least 20 miles an hour and things always went wrong when she had to make a twenty nine minute guarantee. The week before she returned to SFIT, her delivery of mobile phones to the Shell Building were five minutes late and her boss nearly fired her. Resurged, Go Go knew that as always, she had to "woman up".

Wasabi was slow in cutting up the food at Tako Taco, as with many others who are deeply affected by the loss of a friend or family member. The staff was faced with pitching in to help their top chef and executed a two minute amount of preparations for the meals served to waiting customers. After his motivation was restored, Wasabi's father rewarded his son with a makeshift James Beard award for best chef in the whole city.

Fred had been moping with the rest for some time, making his position at SFIT on a meaningless level. With Tadashi dead, he would no longer be a lab rat and all he could do was serve as a mascot for the Gators and a student coach for the Ninjas, who were in need of a team support. Then it hit Fred like a pebble when he saw how rightful it was of needing to be needed. Unlike the regular coach, who had his own limitations, Fred wished that he could have the superpower of being in two places at once. Though again, he had added this to his list of "not-science" formulas.

Detective Tracy had been at the site of the inferno for twelve days amongst a crowd of silent students, who were flying the flag of SFIT at half-mast in Tadashi and Callaghan's memory. He was joined by his fellow crimestoppers in the search for what caused the fire, but so far they could not find any evidence that the expo hall had been rigged with an explosive. Tracy later called up his old friend FBI agent Jim Trailer from Washington DC about the incident and the inspector confessed that he was preoccupied with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for a similar case involving the Giri Industrial Corporation, a quasi-public consortium in league with the Japanese government. Now on his own, Tracy's investigation was like trying to solve the _Hindenburg_ disaster all over again. While interviewing the students and staff members who were inside the hall when it was set ablaze, the guard who had been taking the night shift in the robotics lab, stuck to his story of seeing six armed figures trespassing into the building, then leaving it. Although Tracy did not see a connection between these two events, despite some unclear security footage, he found it very coincidental that a robbery had taken place while the expo hall was alight. But at last, they gave up, and the cause of the fire had been ruled out as an electrical discharge. Only Lizz stayed behind for an extra day and found some evidence leading to a tunnel that had been dug from the center of the hall to the outside of the school, but the trail ended without a sign of perpetrators. She decided to leave the tunnel intact as her only evidence that the hall had been destroyed by an arsonist.

As for Sora, he went back to Destiny Islands while Donald and Goofy returned to Disney Castle. As promised, he visited Hiro once a week and did not say anything to upset him over Tadashi's death. Back at home, however, he often talked about Hiro when alone with his mother, and sometimes with Kairi and Riku. But Riku was too excited with the preparations of Kairi's 24th birthday the following month, seeing how his own birthday party was a disappointment when Sora was absent last week. He was curious, though, and often wondered if he too would get the opportunity of visiting San Fransokyo with King Mickey.

* * *

><p>And after two weeks of facing the psychological symptoms of anorexia, insomnia, as well as fighting a losing battle to the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, Hiro's mood went from gloomy to worse as he awoke to the sunlight of week three without Tadashi that came from the square bay window. It was clear to him that the only way he could be with Tadashi again was to commit suicide by hurling himself from that window and fall to the pavement dead, blood leaking from his forehead and spreading out into the street. He imagined Detective Tracy comforting an inconsolable Aunt Cass, telling her that the whole thing was accidental, just like his brother's death. He did not think of what Tracy had to do to make the entire event look like an incident, but an honest cop always has to tell the truth, based on what he had seen in depictions of crime scene investigations and court trials in fiction where the witness would place his or her hand on the Bible and swear the truth.<p>

So he crawled over the opposite side of the bed and steadied his back from the left end of his computer desk where he would gain the right velocity to brake the glass. After a split second, he charged but slowed down at the very moment he came within a foot of the windows, using his hands as a shield to keep himself from braking the glass as the very thought came into his mind: Is suicide really the right option?

Hiro tried again, but this time he stopped within three feet of the window, defeated and embracing his mind into an epiphany. Even if he tried to slit his wrists or even take some of Aunt Cass' diet pills to make him feel woozy (at which point he would die of an overdose), Hiro began to think twice before he would take action into any of those methods of killing oneself, but then again, if Tadashi had such a short life, why couldn't he himself have a life that was much shorter than the other?

That being said, Hiro knew that Tadashi would want him to live a long, healthy and happy life, but it was his brother that was the missing link.

By ten o'clock, Cass invited Hiro to have lunch at Mike's Diner with Tess and Junior. Hiro had to agree as the effects of his anorexia were starting to thin his body at an unhealthy rate and suggested an exercise across Buena Vista Park to work up an appetite. Cass couldn't agree more, and when they came to the diner after walking for thirty minutes, they found Tess and Junior sitting at the third booth by the window. They sat down on the left seat opposite from Tess and Junior while Cass ordered chili, using half of the dinner money she had been planning to spend on the night Hiro was accepted into SFIT. Tess ordered the Blue Plate Special and a cup of coffee, Junior paid for a dish of meatloaf and a mug of milk with his weekly allowance from making good progress in the Crimestoppers Club while Hiro was having a piece of apple pie with a bottle of soda and a glass of water for his aunt.

Hiro, sitting closer to the window, reflected back to the days when Mike's Diner had the best food that Tadashi suggested in working up a healthy appetite of convenient foods, and with Tadashi being the type of person who always took great care of his body via a balanced diet, would always order the Blue Plate Special and some chicken soup (given the nutritious ingredients) and a cup of water so as not to overindulge on the three flavors of ice cream unlike Hiro, who would order nothing but hot dogs and the ice cream to top it all off and it was a wonder that no matter how many sweets he ate, he did not show any signs of obesity. It was only after the relentless exorcising that _onii-chan _reasoned with _otouto _that he _needed _to stay in shape after polishing off a dish of Buffalo wings, cleaning out a bag of gummi bears, and consuming a cherry flavored lollipop that would have otherwise, along with the other sweets from the vending machine in the garage back home, induced his stomach with a little paunch from all those fats and sweets. Smiling, Hiro always remembered at how Tadashi paid great attention to the food pyramid, and that he would only give Hiro a lollipop of any flavor if he behaved well at school, or handled a manful process of trying not to cry whenever he got hurt, an old habit that had remained from the day he took the theorem and got a bunch of other students jealous for being the smartest boy in the classroom.

In reality, Cass gave a once-over at Hiro's meal and so did Tess. She looked at the sad boy, barely poking at his apple pie. Junior, the former overeater he was until his adoption, only took a forkful of his meatloaf, taking in what was going on in Hiro's mind as Cass and Tess exchanged sad smiles at each other. Unbeknownst to them, Mike was at work behind the shiny counter, viewing his customers with a certain tolerance before he went back to cleaning the dishes. Mary and Toby were by the cash register, counting the dollar bills for their own paychecks.

As much as Tess had wished that her husband could be with them, instead of at work like always, she lifted her mind off of Dick Tracy and broke the silence.

"How are things going?" she asked Cass.

"Just fine," Cass insisted. "Hiro hasn't been out of his room since last week, and since this is week three, I thought that maybe we could spend the day with you two."

Tess nodded. "Oh. How are things holding up at the café?"

"Good, all except for Hiro. I asked him if he could help out in the kitchen, but all he said was 'that's Tadashi's job, not mine.' You remember when Tadashi worked at the café before he went to college right?"

"I do, it was right after Tracy went on the Flattop case, four years ago."

"I remember that too. We also had your anniversary there."

"When Dick and I came in shouting 'Merry Christmas'?"

"That was after."

Junior interrupted the conversation with his own relationship with the Lucky Cat.

"And when you and Tracy took me in," he said to his adoptive mother. "The café was the second place I had the best food at. This diner is only the first. I think I'll rate Mike's Diner as my number one while the Lucky Cat is my number two…or I could just have it the other way around."

Tess nodded at the factual nature of the memory. Then Junior brought up another subject.

"You know something, Tess? I think Hiro and I should have a sleep-over, maybe it'll make him feel better."

Hiro's ears were mentally far from Junior's vocal range, his head was swirling but he did not show any dizziness…just a glimpse of what could have been Tadashi sitting on the counter with his back turned to his brother and wearing the same outfit he wore on the night he died, cap and all. But blinking his eyes twice, Tadashi had immediately vanished into thin air.

"Hiro?"

He turned to hear the sound of Junior's voice.

"How does a sleep-over sound to you?"

Hiro was completely confused. "With me or…you?"

"Either way," Junior confessed. "Will it get your mind off of Tadashi?"

_Maybe he's right_. The young genius could tell that Junior was willing to help, but he dare not dream to lose any memory of Tadashi. He turned to his aunt and asked.

"Could I be excused please?"

Cass stood up to let Hiro aside. "Done so soon?" she asked.

"Y-Yes," Hiro stuttered to prevent insanity. "Why not I have that sleep-over some other time, Junior? I need some fresh air."

And he left the diner with his hands hidden in the pockets of his trousers like the moody kid he was. Mike watched him go and motioned to Tess if the check was ready to be paid. Noticing this, she reached into her handbag for two ten dollar bills and three ones.

"How was the pie?" Mike asked.

Cass looked at the pie, only a half of it was eaten.

"I think he loved it," she grinned as Hiro walked out the door.

Hiro was in turmoil, all that time in his room with three weeks of nothing but an empty stomach and lack of an eight hour sleep was beginning to corrupt his mind over Tadashi to the point where he was beginning to see illusions. He didn't know if it had happened with other people who lost their loved ones (he didn't know Tadashi went through a similar experience when his parents died). He was outside of the diner, across the street and at the mouth of Buena Vista Park. He stopped to wait for Aunt Cass and turned counterclockwise to greet her when she came out the door, but the moment he stopped turning did his gaze meet not with his aunt, but his brother sitting by the window to a cup of hot chocolate, lacking his cap and twisting his mouth into a friendly smile before a moving van out of state passed by and disintegrated the image. For the second time, Tadashi was gone.

_Another hallucination? _Hiro turned his back to the diner as a wild thought crossed his mind:

_What did Mike put in my food? Some type of happy pill that makes you see the dead?_

He couldn't tell if it was that or if being in that room for almost three weeks had poisoned his mind. Now desperate for some fresh air, he ran up the steps and worked off the half piece of apple pie being digested in his stomach as his legs hiked his upper body through the trail that would take him back to the house. Through the long pine trees that passed his way came a fit young man wearing white t-shirt and dark blue shorts with a jacket wrapped around his waist. He also had black hair…was it Tadashi? No. It was either another illusion or perhaps, someone else. When he came to the middle of the park where visitors would often have picnics and romantic getaways, he sat down on the left side of a steel bench to rest his legs for the remaining half of the walk back to the Lucky Cat when the view of his legs were obstructed by a box of Kaori chocolate and a voice that said: "Want some chocolates?"

For the third time, Hiro saw Tadashi, alive in perfect shape and health, sitting next to him with a box of chocolate in his left hand. He was dazed and almost delighted at how real it felt when Tadashi said.

"Life is like a box of chocolates, Hiro. You never know what you're gonna get."

Hiro's eyes filled with liquid, it was the famous bench scene from _Forrest Gump_ where Tom Hanks, playing the titular protagonist, tried to offer some chocolates to a woman, but declined. His right hand made a snacking gesture like a Venus fly trap catching a fly. But just as his hand made contact with the chocolate he was aiming for-a square piece on the top left corner, it melted into a brown river along with the box and Tadashi itself.

_Another hallucination._

Hiro must have been losing his sanity on that day, for when he ran all the way to the end of the park where it led to Haight St. there was a tall figure blocking the way.

_Please let this be real. _Hiro pleaded in his head. All he wanted was to attack his brother from behind with a great big hug and a kiss on the neck. He grouped his arms and…Tadashi disappeared into secondhand smoke. In great distress, he ran straight home, into the house and landed on the pillow of his bed face first, whispering to himself, "It's not real, he's dead." Three minutes later, Aunt Cass returned and immediately went back to work.

Thus as to fill his empty heart, he locked himself in Tadashi's bed behind the screen, clutching his cap very tightly and was refusing to let go as he curled himself into a fetal position, gritting his teeth with heaved breaths.

"Why did you leave me?" he wondered. "All I see are a bunch of false memories."

But his brother had died with valor, and the other half, Hiro the yang himself was forced to live in a world without his yin. His illusioned eyes turned toward the bookcase of Tadashi's famous stories.

"Maybe I'll read a book," he sighed. "It will get my brain back in shape."

The books Tadashi had owned were pretty interesting works of fiction, a total of 70 including _The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud _by Ben Sherwood, _The Master of Ballantrae _by Robert Louis Stevenson, _Into the Forest _by Jean Hegland and _The Brothers Karamazov_ by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – all of them based on the subject of brotherly relationships. It made Hiro wonder if the reason why Tadashi liked these particular books was because they reminded him of their own relationship, especially the ultimate climax of _The Brothers Karamazov _where Fyodor Karamazov, the father of the three Russian brothers, had to be killed off.

He looked at the bottom shelf to find Tadashi's taste in classic literature, and at the bottom right corner he found the copy of _Gone with the Wind_ he had been reading on the night he and Tadashi planned out their inventions…and ended up as crumpled pieces of paper.

"_Washed up at fourteen. So sad._"

Hiro almost teared up at the memory, smiling. He _longed _for Tadashi's sarcasm, he _longed _for his Frankensteiner and even longed for another hug, another hello, and another good bye. Not another good bye, he needed more hellos that echoed over the parting ways of good bye. He looked into the pages of Margaret Mitchell's _magnum opus _and gazed into the text, until he found the very page he was looking for. The same moment that he remembered from the 1939 film adaptation where actress Vivien Leigh brought the character of Scarlett O'Hara to chilling, powerful life with her famous line "As God as my witness, I'm never going to be hungry again." in chapter 25.

Raising his right fist to the ceiling, chin up and strong-minded like his character, Hiro made a vow that was as real as his own take on the prayer.

"As God as my witness, I will never leave this room again."


	7. Baymax

Mary Steele and Toby Townly arrived at the Lucky Cat Café with Mrs. Minerva Matsuda to play bridge with Cass on the 15th of August. They had left the burial last month to attend business at Mike's Diner and were absent at the wake. Following this tragic sequence of events, Mary and Toby took the MV _Oceana _to Honolulu for a week of some much needed R&R as well as a change of scenery. Mrs. Matsuda was one of their oldest friends. At eighty years of age, she had been a nude model in her youth and was not afraid to wear a two-piece swimsuit at the pier or at home where she felt the most comfortable, writing local novels that would have earned her a Nobel Prize, but did not meet the standards.

The first thing Aunt Cass had done the day after Tadashi's funeral was hire more staff members for the café, telling them that she was willing to pay the workers at a two dollar increase of the federal minimum wage as long as they did the job commendably. The youthful aspects of the employed baristas reminded her of Tadashi a little too much, one might say and the luxury of a full staff was all she needed until she was able to work again and treat her employees like a true boss.

When the three ladies approached Cass, who was sitting behind the counter, she gave each of them a tight hug with no words for comfort other than a "Hello, how are you?" Mary's dark hair looked stunning in an apple green dress of long sleeves and white gloves for contrast, Toby wore a dark brown dress embroidered with cat's eyes, short flounced sleeves and a crooked yellow bow scarf on both sides in a perpetual stretch of balance and Mrs. Matsuda was wearing a faded pale pink polyester dress with a light purple wool jacket. Her swimsuit was hidden underneath the dress, serving her very well as an outlandish alternative to undergarments.

The four women sat down at a square table with four seats in a little corner of the kitchen, ready to deal the cards. This table was often used by Cass for her own private company, for times when she was alone stress eating by herself and even when she had guests to deal with in secrecy so that Hiro and Tadashi would not meddle in her affairs.

"How's Hiro holding up?" Toby was the first to ask.

"Just fine, but I'm sure he's getting there," Cass responded. "I feel like the whole thing with Tadashi dying and all has made him bed-ridden."

"Same with my husband," Mary confessed. "I was in mourning for a week."

"When my boyfriend Mark got killed by that Bookie Joe, I vowed revenge," Toby said, remembering three years ago when a bookie named Joe held her for ransom. "But since the fire was most likely some type of accident, I don't see Hiro going through what I went through."

"You should talk," Mrs. Matsuda scoffed in haughtiness. "I have been without my husband for four years, and he's the only guy I'm outliving so far."

"You mean the ones closest to you?" Cass asked.

Mrs. Matsuda's Asian eyes went wide with absurdity.

"Of course I do," she said simply.

Cass looked over at the white tray of four strawberries, a blueberry muffin and a banana sitting on the other side of the kitchen. She had been saving it for Hiro, who was in great need of being saved from malnutrition. With a sigh, she went over to the deserted meal.

"Would you mind if you dealt the cards without me? I'll see if Hiro wants to join."

"Suit yourself," said Mary in understanding.

Taking the dish with both hands, she made her way past the unnoticeable patrons and walked carefully up the stairs. You wouldn't have known that a lonely genius crying for his older brother was looking down upon you as you passed the house.

* * *

><p><em>Why won't you come home?<em>

Thirty days had gone by since Hiro won the acceptance award into the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Four weeks had passed since his brother and teacher suffered an unneeded death from a fire caused by an electrical spark. A whole month had vanished since Tadashi was buried in the Sunset View Cemetery. An entire lifetime of sobs, tears, rage, nightmares, self-blaming and an all-time high shut down of activity was all he could do.

Hiro looked down from the square bay windows and watched the time of Earth moving about him, while he remained shut in the past of his bedroom. A living time capsule without the important ingredient that was Tadashi. As much as he wanted to drown his sorrow in liquor, like a touch of Jack Daniels, a swig of George Dickel and a cupful of Benjamin Prichard's, the law was the law and underage drinking was the least of his problems. All he could ever think about was Tadashi. He did not think about Professor Callaghan, whose fate had been shared with his brother's. He didn't think about his microbots, whom were also believed to have to have been burnt to a crisp in the conflagration, despite the fact that he intended them to be fire-retardant.

_Just another failed invention, _sighed Hiro as he slumped in his red beanie. His eyes darted to the yellow smiley face of Megabot, hoping that it would transform into Tadashi's face, just to make him feel better after another hallucination. But the phantasms had stopped once he had gotten home after the fateful luncheon at Mike's Diner. All he could see of Tadashi now were photographs, sitting there in the beanie to let his memory be erased and reach the ultimate conclusion that he never had a brother, and that his life had reached its level of perfection.

His train of thought was derailed by Aunt Cass' sympathetic voice.

"Hey, Hiro. You know, Mrs. Steele, Ms. Townley and Mrs. Matsuda are in the café and we're gonna play bridge in the kitchen. Wanna join us? You know that always cheers you up."

Hiro's reply was dead of emotion.

"If Tadashi was here, it would be a party."

Cass tried to remain cheerful as put the plat down next to a turquoise colored dish of rice, chard and a New York steak. It had gotten cold since last night, and Hiro's anorexia had not given him the impetus of touching at least one sample of the dish. He looked over at the serving with disgust.

"Tadashi is dead and you expect me to eat?" Hiro felt like he did not deserve any of his aunt's meals.

Cass' voice grew desperate. "If you stop eating, you'll make yourself sick."

"If I get hungry, I can take care of myself," Hiro said like a grown man on the verge of independency.

"I understand," Cass replied in a low voice.

As she went over to the window blinders on the other side of the room, she stopped with one last detail that, hopefully, would get Hiro to move on with his life.

"Oh, the university called again. It's been two weeks since classes started, but they said it's not too late to register."

Her right hand straightening the acceptance letter on the desk table only made Hiro feel sour with remorse. A part of him had died with Tadashi at the very school he had gone to and worked there until he made the biggest mistake of his life by going straight into a burning building unprepared. Prior to his death, Hiro had often wished that his brother wasn't so selfless sometimes, leading to a clash of personalities that made him wonder why he cared so much about the lives of others.

"If I hadn't stopped him, Tadashi and I would be going to the university together."

Cass frowned.

"I miss him too, Hiro. But punishing yourself will get you nowhere."

The volume of Hiro's voice was raised as if he had been insulted.

"How can you say that?! You're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you?"

"You're not the only one to suffer a loss, Hiro. I lost my brother too."

Hiro heard the same last five words from Detective Tracy. Instead of connecting the subject with the other, he asked.

"You mean Dad?"

"Yes…and a sister too. People are dying all around you, Hiro. Tess lost her father to those criminals, Mrs. Steele lost her husband to a crook, Toby's boyfriend got killed by a bookie and even Mr. Matsuda lived to have a full life."

"Tadashi should have had a full life," Hiro replied in a sotto voice.

"I know," Cass said understandingly. "But Tadashi is with Tomeo and your mom. When you're dead for ten years, you're dead for ten years and Tadashi fell into the jaws of death about a month ago, and no one, not even you, could have saved him. But, as you said before: Tadashi's not really gone...as long as we remember him."

Hiro's guilt increased and Cass, feeling as though she said the wrong words, disappeared down the stairs.

When she was gone, Hiro shut the blinders on the window that Cass had been to, pulling down the rope with his right hand. It seemed to him that his only light in the world was Tadashi, above all other forms of light in the universe (like the sun for instance). He walked over to his computer, turned the monitor on and saw the bot fighting website.

_How long have I left that on? _Hiro wondered in confusion.

Although he didn't seem like the type of person who took great care of his computer, he had not touched it since the night of his final bot fight…the night where he was introduced to his new friends and Sora. He found a yellow message screen that drew his attention. Clicking it with the mouse by moving the arrow down to the middle of the message screen, he found a Skype message of Tadashi's research team. Fred on the right, Go Go on the center right, Wasabi on the center left and Honey Lemon on the left end of the screen. Behind the quartet were the grounds of San Fransokyo Tech, which made Hiro want to burn the entire school beyond sight of memory along with the expo hall that took Tadashi away from him.

"Hey, Hiro," they said, waving their hands in unison.

"We just wanted to check in and see how you were," Honey explained.

"Wish you were here buddy," Wasabi added.

"We know how you feel," sympathized Go Go. "Tadashi was like a brother to us all. But he's not really gone as long as we remember him right?"

The following comment made by Fred was the most heartwarming thing he ever said, but Hiro did not want to hear.

"Hiro, if I could have only one superpower right now, it would be the ability to crawl through this camera and give you a _big_ hug."

The boy silenced the four clowns back into the darkness where they belonged.

_They don't really care how I feel. _Hiro thought to himself.

It was pretty obvious to him that he had known Tadashi a lot longer than Aunt Cass or any of his friends and he couldn't imagine his life without him. But tragedy aside, poor little Hiro was not set for a life of depression, anxiety and emptiness, and pretty soon his whole mind was on the verge of lapsing into insanity (Aunt Cass' double appointments with a therapist didn't help him either). But needless to say, his aunt was respectfully kind to her nephew like never before. She even offered Hiro to sleep with her, but he absolutely refused.

The most positive outcome of Tadashi's death was that the Lucky Cat Café had a quick flourish in business before things went back to normal. Once the neighbors from Cass' side of the Haight heard about what had happened, she thought back to Alistair Krei's $100 million offer that Hiro turned down just so that she could buy a larger café. Hiro couldn't care one bit about the customers who spoke about Tadashi's death as if it were some sort of formal event, though at the same time he felt very sensitive about anything relating to the word "fire". In fact, because of how Tadashi died, Hiro developed a severe case of arsonphobia, which was the fear of fire. It was definitely the most negative outcome of his older brother's death.

His eyes darted to Megabot and the acceptance letter on the table. To Hiro, these two objects served as the yin and yang of his life.

_What can I choose? _His inner voice spoke to him.

Hiro, believing that he lacked a "shoulder angel" or a "shoulder devil", saw that the letter and Megabot were his only good and bad sides. He picked up the letter with both hands, he wanted to tear it up, but even as his fingers began to curl into a strong grip on the white envelope, he could not find the strength nor the heart to rip the letter into a hundred pieces. So he let the letter slip from his hands…and landed in the waste bin. He looked at Megabot picked him up, and he started to contemplate the thoughts of suicide in his head.

_If I go back to bot-fighting, those guys are likely to kill me for good. Anything's better than nerd school, but still…_

He looked over past the screen where Tadashi's memories lay preserved in his side of the room. Since Tadashi did not leave a will, Aunt Cass and Hiro already inherited everything, Hiro was certain that he was able to fit into Tadashi's clothes when he was old enough to grow into them. The Vespa was still parked outside the garage where Tadashi had left it and his lab at the university had been cleared up after his death. Only Go Go had noticed that several documents were missing from the drawers, but took them as being misplaced before Tadashi had been killed. As of now, Aunt Cass had been considering as to whether or not sell Tadashi's belongings to a storage facility and all Hiro could do was refuse, not willing to sell Tadashi's baseball cap for $5.00 even if he wished it the most.

_Why did you always worry about other people?_

Hiro came within contact of Tadashi's bed that he had slept in simultaneously with his own bed. Once a night he slept in his own bed, then Tadashi's bed the next night, and now he wanted to sleep in it even more. The scent, atmosphere, the whole claustrophobic area was all that remained of his role model, his inventions, his books, his notes, documents of his inventions…and Baymax.

_Where were you when I needed you?_

Hiro felt all the rage boiling as he looked at the puffy, white robot within his luggage, having been dormant since he and Aunt Cass brought him home from the showcase. Baymax was supposed to be a healthcare robot, and was meant to, in Tadashi's words: "help a lot of people."

This infuriated Hiro even more, and without further hesitation over asking as to why Baymax was not there to support him through Tadashi's death, lifted his left foot backwards, asserted every last bit of strength and brought it all home as his big toe collided with the windshield of Baymax's luggage, nearly causing an internal hemorrhage as Hiro shouted "OW!" in a serious, deadly pain. He dropped his upper body down on Tadashi's bed, clutching his left big toe with both hands, trying to heal the pain. Unlike the pain he suffered of losing Tadashi and his parents, this was a different sort of pain.

At that very minute, a quick "beep, beep, beep," was heard from the circular light of the luggage, and out from the object came Baymax, his innocent black eyes greeting Hiro with a friendly wave of his right hand, as he had done before.

"Hello, I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion."

Hiro didn't know what to say.

"Hey, Baymax," he replied casually. "I didn't know you were still active."

"I heard a sound of distress," the puffy robot tilted his head four degrees to the right as he asked. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Oh, I just stubbed my toe, but I'm fine."

Baymax's pain threshold chart appeared on his chest.

"From one to ten, how much does your heart hurt?"

Hiro did not know how to deal with Tadashi's last work, especially since this was only the second time they met and he had completely forgotten the right words to activate and deactivating the robot. So he replied, "A zero?"

He got off the bed, gesturing Baymax to back away, "I'm okay, you can shrink now."

"Does it hurt when I touch it?"

Baymax aimed his right index finger at Hiro's front toe, almost against the boy's personal boundary as he protested.

"No touchy!"

"I will begin treatment now."

He gripped his hands around Hiro's left foot, beginning to initiate a healing process.

"I told you! I'm fine! I don't need treatment!"

Hiro flapped his arms madly about like a wild bird of prey, struggling to liberate himself from Baymax's grip. As he succeeded in tugging himself free, the gravitational weight of his upper body carried him down to the bed on his spine.

Baymax's black eyes peered down upon Hiro as he said, "You have fallen."

"You think?" Hiro replied as if were the most obvious thing in the world.

Before Hiro knew it, Baymax's arms closed in around his abdomen and he was carrying him bridal style from the back of his entire body with his legs crisscrossed over the hands. Hiro felt as if he had been in this position before (when he was a baby, no doubt), remembering the consolidations of Tadashi cradling his tiny body back and forth as did his mother, yet his memories of her were no longer tangible.

"It is alright to cry," the snowy robot consoled him. "Crying is a natural response to pain."

But with every word Baymax solaced him with, Hiro was drawing further and further into himself without being reminded of Tadashi and anything negative that had happened in his fourteen years of life. So he straightened his legs and helped himself safely down from the magnanimous robot with his left foot being the last to leave as he protested, "I'm not crying!"

"I will scan you now for further injuries."

Hiro directed his left index finger at Baymax in a don't-you-dare-do-it sort of way.

"Don't scan me."

But it was too late, Baymax nodded his head by ten millimeters and a "beep" sound was heard from where his cerebrum would be located.

"Scan complete."

"Unbelievable."

Hiro uncurled the rest of his fingers and made a slight heave of his breath with dissatisfaction, realizing that the word "unbelievable" was something he had only heard Tadashi say.

_Great now I am starting to sound just like my brother._

Baymax's neurological scan was an entire breakdown of the most unusual symptoms he could find. Hiro's respiratory system, heartbeat and oxygen levels were the same, with some different amounts of symptoms and hormones detected from every corner of his brain.

On the left side of his readout, just below "diagnosis" there was a list of symptoms. After "no physical injury", the status read "GPR54 detected." GPR54, also known as the "Kisspeptin receptor", mitigated endocrine functions during puberty. Its activation causes the release of gonadotropin hormones. In short, it was the mechanism that "turned on" the gonads and basically readied the body for sexual procreation. All of the aches, pains and weird feelings that occur during puberty were a result of the body adjusting to changes in the gonadal system. The Kisspeptin receptor usually became active around age eleven year old girls and twelve year old boys. Hiro, being fourteen, suggested that he was a bit of a late-bloomer in regards to his physical development, but this was not especially uncommon among children who are intellectually precocious. No one really knew why this was; it was all just a common correlational finding.

Underneath it read "High levels of GnRH". GnRH was short for gonadotropin-releasing hormone. A peptide hormone that regulated the release of additional hormones in the anterior pituitary gland within the hypothalamus. These hormones were released in pulses or waves and it was often different between boys and girls. In girls, the pulses tend to occur at a varied rate throughout the menstrual cycle, with big surges occurring just prior to ovulation. In boys, meanwhile, GnRH was secreted in pulses at a more constant frequency. Detection of high levels of GnRH in Hiro indicated that a pulse of the hormone was occurring and his gonads were in a state of spermatogenesis.

Underneath it read "Increased Pituitary Activity." Again, the pituitary gland was the main generator for these hormones. Electrical activity generating in the pituitary caused the release of various hormones. The pituitary was involved in all manner of state and trait-based functioning. In this case, the heightened activity was most likely connected to the pulse of GnRH.

Under the previous name read "High Testosterone." An androgen steroid hormone secreted in the testicles of males and the ovaries of females. Higher levels of testosterone during physical development aided in the tissue growth of secondary sexual characteristics, as well as augmenting muscle and bone mass, and the growth of body hair. Secretion of testosterone from the adrenal glands is also associated with stress, helping to ready muscles tension and blood flow in so-called "fight-or-flight" situations. Heightened testosterone in Hiro meant that his body was going through the process of puberty; that his body was at an accelerated process of physical development like a "growth spurt".

The following underneath it read "Vocal Fluctuation," which was pretty straightforward. During puberty, the larynx grew and expanded at a fast pace, altering the pitch and vibration of vocal folds. Similar to GnRH, the hormones that aid in the growth of the larynx also occur in surges or pulses and this was why adolescent voices sometimes seem to 'crack' or suddenly fluctuate.

Finally, the bottom symptom read "emotional instability." This was a complex, but significant portion of Hiro's emotional issues, relating to his period of mourning over his brother's death. Nevertheless, emotional instability is highly common during the process of puberty, a byproduct of hormonal fluctuations as well as differential activity in the brain. Up in the screen, on the right side readout, were two side-views of Hiro's brain. The first was a baseline image, the picture Baymax had taken when he first met Hiro. The second was the current image. Both of which were imitations of what full side-view brain scans looked like in scans of functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Hiro's baseline showed relatively normative brain activity, with electrical activity occurring in a broad, spectral fashion. In the second image, however, the electrical activity was more focal, concentrating in the lower mid-brain region. This was where the hypothalamus is, and the concentrated activity indicated that the pituitary is in the process of triggering the release of all manner of hormones.

Structurally, the hypothalamus resides right next to the amygdala, part of the limbic system, and a primary component to emotion. The amygdala was believed to be the part of the brain that connects thoughts and memories to physical sensations. Put simply, it is what created emotion. Being situated so closely to the hypothalamus, an increase in limbic system activity may have been merely a byproduct of increases of growth-related hormones during adolescence. And this often contributed to greater emotional instability tied in with growth spurts.

Furthermore, the increased activity in the midbrain region often acts to reduce activity in other areas, especially the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes were the area of the brain most associated with decision-making, foresight, and judgment. Apparently, there was only so much electrical activity that could occur in the brain at any given moment. And a concentration of activity in the lower regions could actually reduce such activity in the upper regions. So, when an adolescent made a rash decision, acted out, or showed poor judgment, it was often a result of reduced activity in frontal lobes that occur as a result of heightened activity elsewhere.

Finally, the readout showed Hiro's heart rate and body temperature in the normative range.

Below the brain scans on the right-hand side of Baymax's eyesight screen were a list of abbreviations of six hormones and neurotransmitters. First was GnRH at seventy one percent. Next was LH at eighty one percent, which stood for luteinizing hormone. For girls, luteinizing hormones supported the ovarian theca cells in later stages of the menstrual cycle. In boys, luteinizing hormones helped to activate the leydig cells in the testis, assisting in the production of testosterone.

After that was a figure for FSH at fifty eight percent. FSH stood for follicle-stimulating hormone. FSH is a specific type of luteinizing hormone that activates pubertal maturation. In girls, FSH is crucial to determining which egg is selected in ovulation. FSH seemed to be able to determine which egg follicle was the strongest and most ready for ovulation of growing into a healthy baby. In boys, FSH induced sertoli cells to secrete androgen-binding proteins, helping to activate cells associated with male sexual development.

Next was the letter T at one hundred and seventy percent, also known as T3 or Triiodothyronine. This is a thyroid hormone that plays a significant role in multiple areas of bodily functioning, including metabolism, body temperature, and heart rate. Elevated levels of T3 was a critical component to adolescent development. It helped navigate metabolism so to give growing regions the extra energy needed for cellular generation (or tissue growth). For his size and weight, Hiro's T3 level of one hundred and seventy definitely suggested he was going through a growth spurt.

Next was E2 at twenty two percent, which stood for estradiol. Estradiol was both a steroid as well as a sex hormone. In fact, the primary sex hormone in girls, helping to activate genes whose expression allows further development of the vagina as well as breast growth. In boys, estradiol acted to help keep nascent sperm cells from dying off prematurely. Significant heightened E2 levels in boys was a primary indicator of the genetic condition known as Klinefelters syndrome (also known as intersex or XYY syndrome). At twenty two, Hiro's E2 level is a touch high, but well within the normative range for a boy his age.

And finally, there was the letter F at seven percent, standing for Cortisol. A steroid hormone produced by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex in response to stress and low blood glucose.

"You have sustained no injuries," Baymax summarized in his accurate calculations. "However, your hormone and neurotransmitter levels indicates that you are experiencing mood swings, common in adolescence. Diagnosis…"

He paused for dramatic effect and Baymax positioned his right index finger upwards. And as Hiro looked inanely into the hyperspectral cameras, the robot made his final result.

"Puberty."

"Whoa, WHAT?!"

Hiro could not believe what he had heard! He had just about enough of Baymax, thinking that robots had no compassion for humanity and treated the loss of a loved one as if it were some sort of casual fact of life with no major significance, as he and almost everybody else had seen robots as nothing more than machines lacking emotion and loyalty.

"Okay, I think it's time shrink now," sang out Hiro and he scooted past Baymax to retrieve the luggage, pick it up and take it out to his side of the room. It would be easier for Hiro to deflate the robot in a more larger space of room given Baymax's weight as well as conducting a manual trial and error method. After setting the luggage down at the foot of his bed, Baymax continued to summarize other symptoms of puberty. A male figure appeared on his chest. It was as white as Baymax's stomach, but displayed the chin, chest, armpits and private areas in a dark circles of oxblood.

"You should expect an increase in body hair, especially on your lower face, chest, armpits and ge-"

"_ARIGATO! _That's enough!"

Before Baymax could say "genitals", Hiro cut him off by dragging his left hand with his right to his side of the room, knocking over three of Tadashi's science books in the process from the top of a two shelf bookcase from Baymax's rotund booty. When they reached the luggage, Hiro dragged Baymax's right hand and forced the robot's right foot into the luggage. Then, determined to push Baymax down in an extremely meaningless effort without saying the right words, Hiro climbed on top of the robot, placed his right hand, then his left on Baymax's head and pushed as if he were a GP performing a surgical delivery procedure on a pregnant woman. But Baymax carried on with his symptoms.

"You may also experience strange and powerful new urges."

"Okay," Hiro grunted with a strained tone of newfound chipperness. "Let's get you back in your luggage."

The harder he tried, the more he was overwhelmed by Baymax and his pump-up stature of helium.

"Shrink! _Konchiku shou me!_ Shrink!"

"I can not deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care."

_How could I forget? _Hiro's chest fell on Baymax's head as his hands slipped from the vinyl friction. Exhausted, he continued to push Baymax down with strong momenta as the words flooded back into his memory, refreshing it from the first time he met Baymax in Tadashi's lab.

"Fine! I am satisfied with my-!"

Before he could punctuate Baymax's deactivation with the final word, Hiro gave his right hand a durable thrust on Baymax's head, and the balance between his body and Baymax's inflated figure had miserably failed when his body slipped downwards and fell right off of Baymax while the robot wheeled away in his open luggage towards the bay view windows. The four wheels placed on the bottom of Baymax's luggage where meant to serve as a quicker way for Baymax to reach his patients with a critical condition (even though he not been able to use it as transportation even if he wanted too).

Hiro landed close to the bed on his left cheek and blew his lips at a bang hanging over his left eye in frustration. It was followed by what he thought was the jittering sound of an insect's feet scurrying away from being killed. He moved his head up and the jitters turned into squeaks. His eyes searched under the bed for the source of the sound…coming from his hoodie as a part of it shook softy back and forth.

His right hand pulled the hoodie out from under and Hiro checked all over for the vibration in his hoodie…and found it in his right pocket. Hiro's hand reached into the pocket, checking for any signs of a mouse that had moved into his jacket for shelter. His fingertips did not feel any signs of hair or fur on the body, but rather something metallic. He pulled it out…and there in the palm of his right hand was…

The microbot core.

The very same microbot that Alistair Krei had tried to sneak off with on the night of the showcase. It's joints were moving wildly and rapidly in the open air.

"My microbot?" Hiro asked as he transferred the core to his other hand. "This doesn't make any sense."

Even if the core had followed him home, he was unsure if his microbots were definitely inflammable. Baymax, having recovered from his quick trip across the room, picked himself up and walked over to Hiro with another message about the essence of puberty.

"Puberty can often be a confusing time for a young adolescent flowering into manhood."

"Baymax, this is serious! This thing is attracted to the other microbots…but they were all destroyed in fire. How is this possible?"

And to give Baymax his own message, he held the core in front of the robot's camera eyes for a closer inspection, then he found a crystal clear petri dish, put it in and covered the top to prevent the core from escaping his grasp, should he ever use it in the future to make more microbots, but he did not have any motivation to do so.

Hiro tiled his head to right, making the final word.

"It's probably gone haywire."

Defeated and willing to resume his gloomy mood, Hiro sat down on his swivel chair and took Megabot off the table, holding it in his hands like a plush animal. He looked closer into the eyes of his creation, to see his future as a professional bot fighter, rubbing elbows with the likes of other crime bosses besides Yama who treated him fairly accepted their losses with a casual, or less angry remark.

Having obtained the emotion of curiosity, Baymax peered his eyes down at the petri dish. His hyperspectral cameras could not look into the inner working of the microbot, but, being a robot himself, he could understand the programming language of any kind of robotics. His hands made contact with the dish, flipped over, and the glass with its precious load was safely cradled in the care of Baymax. He studied the microbot as it tried to leave the dish, telling him that it needed to be someplace else with its presumably deceased family. When Baymax turned his back twelve degrees to the right, the microbot went from a southeastern position to the bottom of the dish in a south direction like a compass.

Walking eight steps backwards to Hiro, Baymax informed him.

"Your tiny robot is trying to go somewhere."

Hiro couldn't care less, he kept staring at Megabot, long and hard enough for it to transform into Tadashi's face, telling him that it would be all right. All he really wanted was for Baymax to go away.

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you find out where it's trying to go?"

Batymax cocked his head quizzically.

"Would that stabilize your pubescent mood swings?"

"Un-huh, absolutely."

"Acknowledged."

It did not take more than a second for Hiro to see Baymax heading down the stairs, aided by the squeaking sounds of his feet. Completely forgetting the serious nature of his instructions, he asked the squishy android.

"Baymax, where are you going?"

"To find where your tiny robot wishes to go."

"I didn't mean it that way!" Hiro called from the landing.

And just before Baymax had made his way to the living room, Hiro retrieved his shoes from the bay windows, tied them on and picked up his jacket from the floor, his feet skidding against the carpet as he raced to the stairs. Putting his jacket on as he made his way to the café, Hiro arrived just in time to see Baymax already out the door, eyes completely concentrated on the petri dish and blocking a green Honda N-One on the crossroad as he made his way down Masonic Avenue. Hiro raced to the door, but was suddenly blocked by Aunt Cass, whose bridge group had left and she was getting back to work serving a cup of brown coffee to a blond haired woman in a light blue shirt. When Cass met Hiro, her face was bemused and amused to see him out of his room.

"Hiro?!"

The boy grounded to a stop just three feet in front of her.

"You've decided to leave your room?"

"Hey, Aunt Cass! I figured it was time! Tadashi would want this right?"

Cass smiled.

"Does this mean you are registering for school?" she asked in a motherly tone.

Hiro looked over his aunt's left shoulder, Baymax was getting farther and farther from where he could see him, about a half mile away to be exact.

"Yes! I thought about what you said and you're right, it's time to move on."

He cruised around his aunt, his right hand trying to reach for the door handle, but only touched the glass window as his aunt pulled him in to a hug.

"Oh, honey, that's so great!"

Hiro moved his eyes back, making sure that Baymax was still in sight. His aunt released herself from him and could only express her excitement with one of her favorite homemade meals since cooking school.

"I'll cook you a special dinner tonight!" Cass cried with exhilaration. "How about some Buffalo wings, you know, the hot sauce that makes your faces go…"

She held her hands up, waved them and opened her mouth with a silent scream, vaguely describing the spicy nature of the dish in pantomime.

"Okay," Hiro beamed as he tried to leave for the door. "Sounds good!"

"Great!" his aunt shouted. Then she pulled into a great big mama bear hug and whispered.

"Last hug."

Since Cass did not give her eldest nephew a proper goodbye, she had come up with this "last hug" so that in case something awful would happen to Hiro, she would always be the last to give him a proper goodbye.

She looked her nephew lovingly for a split-second and walked away from him to serve a cup of cappuccino to an impatient customer.

Hiro looked on, still smiling as his right hand grabbed the door handle, pulled it down and quickly reverted to his panicked stage as he raced out the door.

His journey had taken him on a twenty nine minute race through Buena Vista Park to Duboce Avenue, down Sanchez Street, a trolley ride on 16th Street, into the Marina on 17th, through an alleyway on Maripatosa, down Illinois, up 20th and like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Hiro, exhausted and deprived of fresh air and long needed exorcise, had unknowingly followed the path to his destiny.


	8. The Man in the Kabuki Mask

Six days after the SFIT showcase disaster, Lips paid a social call to Big Boy at the Club Ritz, to discuss the outcome of any new recruits for the Apparatus. In the conference room, he greeted his friend with a warm embrace and sat down on the left side of the table while Big Boy sat at the front as always, wearing a gaudy money-green suit, shirt and tie that competed with Lips' ever-frequently used black suit as the color language of evil. With a pair of tulip cups filled with champagne to start the day, Lips was the one to speak first.

"Have you thought of any more members for the second phase of this benefactor's plan for…the future?"

"The future is me, Lips. I always thought of myself as that. As for the new recruits…"

He trailed off in his speech, trying to think of whatever names he could find throughout his encyclopedic knowledge of the San Fransokyo mafia. Then he remembered some names who had certain connections with Lips through independent work.

"Why not we bring in Little Face, Shoulders and them three other torpedoes you've always been mentioning about?"

"You mean Stooge Viller, Roddy Wilson and the Brow?"

Big Boy nodded. "Extra help means extra protection."

"A lot of other crooks would love to join your league."

Caprice surveyed Manlis, seemingly unaffectionate with the answer as he cracked a walnut with his strong hands from a glass bowl that sat in front of him.

"Which ones? I haven't been keeping up with my e-mails."

"Well there's Mr. Sparkles."

"The guy from _The Super Sparkle Challenge Hour_?"

"And looks like a child with gold hair and wears a rainbow suit?" chuckled Lips. "That's the guy. Says he's secretly bent on world conquest 'cause everyone thinks his show's a total waste of time."

"Another semi-reality show gone bad," Big Boy muttered. "I also heard he's a super creepy bastard."

"What about the Bonsai Bombers? I hear they're good at tactics and strategy."

"And sabotage," added Big Boy. "Those three are first class pyromaniacs."

"Any chances of them being the cause of the big blow?"

"No reason that I can see."

He kept silent for three minutes until another suggestion came into his mind:

"Fujitas."

"What?" Lips' mind was wandering out the window to observe the weather outside. A few traces of clouds were all that remained of that fateful day.

"Fujitas," Big Boy repeated. "Three of Texie's friends from the red light district. Geishas on roller skates who like to chew on razor blades. They move like koi fish and are as good as samurais, but I'm not sure of wanting them on _my _side. They work for Yama, and knowin' him, he'd never give _me _anything."

"Didn't he get arrested a while back for some bot fight?"

"I think so," Big Boy tried to remember. "At least Tracy finally put _him_ in the slammer instead of me for once in his spoiled life."

"Well, who else can we add? Yama's other guys are in the clink, too. It's not like they'd be willing to work for you just because you want to run the city dry."

"See, that's the problem. There's a whole lotta people who are just dyin' to work for me. This room ain't big enough, so we have to find a bigger room to hold our meetings in."

"How many do you want?"

"Thirty. If we get a bigger count, we're gonna have to use the old iron works building on Pier 70."

"That place went out of business thirty years ago. Why there?"

Big Boy pulled out a dark photograph from his right vest pocket and described the details as he handed it to Lips.

"The residence of our benefactor. Wears a mask, black suit, coat and army boots…calls himself 'Lord Deathstrike."

Lips recoiled at the frightening sight of the white mask with four red stripes on the cheeks and eyebrows that connected into a circular square where the nose should be.

"Big Boy," Lips stuttered as he studied the photograph, "I have been waiting long enough to know that…what is it that he wants?"

Big Boy swallowed his throat thoughtfully. "Revenge, probably. I don't really know what it is other than he wants it to be surprise-and it ain't even my birthday. What I want is nothing more than to turn this oyster into a world where everyone is completely different physically and mentally, in grotesque terms."

"Like us crooks?"

"You know what they say, Lips: 'If you are different from the rest of the flock, they bite you.' –Vincent O' Sullivan. And that bite is more than just a bite, its mistreatin' people. When I was in prison, I had that mistreatment, and felt among the other guys in the club like Flattop, Oodles and Pruneface that they all became criminals because they were mistreated for being too ugly, too smart and too fat."

Lips, being a slight heavy-set himself, was nearly insulted. But before he could even shout an expletive at Caprice, Big Boy asked him. "Other than that, how are things doin' here?"

"Pretty fine. Except for Breathless, she messed up the song last week."

"You mean _Over the Rainbow_? I heard it on the radio and it sounded awful."

"Yeah, she stopped right in the middle of the song. The crowd was lookin' all wierded out 'cause was singing the wrong words."

"You know what went wrong?"

"She didn't feel like speaking to me, so I told Shaky about it and he says that she gets it from his side of the family even though he's her step-father."

Big Boy tried not to laugh. This was definitely against Shaky's point of view on his relationship with the Mahoney family.

* * *

><p>Four weeks later from that day on was Sora's annual visit to Hiro's place. He had already made a phone call for Donald and Goofy to pick him up, via Gummi Ship and after a quick goodbye to his mother, Kairi and Riku, he was on his way again, unaware that this visit would soon become a more eventful one. When they approached the Bay of San Fransokyo, Sora could make out two figures from Pier 70 with his senses telling him that Hiro was not too far away.<p>

"Over there seems like a nice spot," he instructed to Donald.

Without further questioning, Donald glided the Gummi Ship to the pier, hovered for three seconds and landed right in front of the Union Iron Works Machine Shop, now vacant and red-flagged after years of long service. Goofy was the first to see Baymax, standing in front of the door with something that looked like a transparent compact made entirely of glass in his hands. He was in fact, very puzzled as to what he could be doing at such a place.

Hiro was also there, about fifty feet away from the robot he had been chasing for twenty nine minutes (or even an hour at least). There was nothing much to see in this desolate area other than Baymax standing in front of the door to the building, a couple of greenery, a few plants, some small wired fences and seven cars parked on the right hand side of the entrance: A light blue Cadillac Escalade ESV, a black 2022 GMC Yukon XL, a red Toyota Corolla, a silver 2018 Audi R8, a green VW New Bug, a pink 1935 Auburn Speedster and a coffee colored Dodge Durango.

When Hiro came over to Baymax he was flabbergasted to see Sora, Donald and Goofy after a four week absence.

"What are you doing here?" he asked them.

"My weekly visit," Sora replied. "What are you doing here, Hiro?"

"I was following Baymax here with my core microbot."

Baymax turned to his new master.

"I have found where this tiny robot wishes to go."

"I told you, it's broken, dumba-"

Before he could insult his brother's last work, Hiro grabbed the petri dish and carefully observed the movements of the microbot to see that Baymax had not proved him wrong. When he moved the dish eight degrees to the right, the microbot moved back into the northward position and when he rotated the dish back to the previous position, Hiro could only assume that the bot was trying to lead him inside the facility.

He darted his eyes upward at Baymax, making sure that his instincts were right and continued his way to the door, only to discover in his right hand was a lock held by a chain coiled around the door handles.

"Locked."

Sora summoned his Keyblade, ready to break the chain.

"Can I use my Keyblade?"

"You see those cars over there?"

Hiro pointed Sora in the direction of the cars with his right index finger.

"So?"

"So, that means that somebody or some _people _are inside this place," Hiro fretted. "If we use your Keyblade, the sound a chain breaking will alert the people inside that we're here. We have to be sneaky."

Baymax looked up.

"There is a window."

The party of five looked up to see two openings on the right wing of the building, one in the center bottom, the other above it.

"And the only way to get up there is if we climb," Goofy stated. "But how?"

"See the crate over there?" Donald pointed to his dim-witted accomplice to the grey container. "We can use that."

It was easy for Sora to make his way up into the building with a strong jump, pulling Goofy and Donald inside as they jumped as well, but not for Hiro. His size and lack of expertise in aerobatics did not put forth a strong leap into his legs, so he used Baymax as a ladder. His shoes stomped over the robot's squishy head as Baymax dictated a symptom for climbing.

"Please exercise caution. A fall from this height could be fatal or lead to bodily harm."

Hiro grabbed hold of Sora's right hand with his left, pulling him in. He looked left and right, taking the surroundings.

It was dark on the eastern and western wings of the building, with only the light of the sun coming in through the sky lights in the center of the interior. The catwalk, which spawned throughout the majority of the machine shop, was rusted and slightly crooked in despair. Chains and titanium cables held the catwalk together, having lasted a century and a half of preventing the platforms from falling down. As Sora helped Hiro to his feet, the younger male went over to the stairs leading down to the ground floor, where he could hear a gruff voice in the distance.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you all here today. To give a warm welcome to our benefactor, Lord Deathstrike."

The sounds of hands clapping pealed throughout the shop. Hiro gripped his hands on the iron railing of the catwalk, leaning his ears closer as he removed the microbot from his right hoodie pocket. The core was still trying to break free, leading Hiro into the direction of the east wing.

Sora, on the other hand, had gone back for Baymax. Just as he had successfully pulled the robot's upper body inside, his inflated waist had been caught in-between the window frames. With his head now resembling the anther of a daisy, all Baymax could say was a quick and silly "Oh no."

Hiro shushed the android, waving his hands wildly, but Baymax lifted up his left index finger and replied, "Excuse me while I let out some air."

Sure enough, Baymax was beginning to shrink, followed by a loud squelching of helium being compressed out of his body. Hiro remained clam, frozen in his position while Sora and his two friends tried not to laugh at Baymax's pitiful attempt at flatulence humor. After eleven seconds, Hiro asked impatiently,

"Are you done?"

With a final squeak, Baymax dropped the finger and replied, "Yes."

As Hiro dragged the rest of Baymax's thinned body onto the catwalk, Sora could hear the voices from downstairs as well.

"Hush," said a female voice. "I thought heard a balloon deflating."

"Probably just the AC, Crewy," replied a nasal sounding voice.

"Or the wind," came a mush-mouthed voice.

Baymax lifted his left index finger again.

"It will take me a moment to re-inflate."

Hiro, not wanting a repeat of attracting the occupants' attention, gestured his hands to lower the volume of Baymax's air pressure as he whispered, "Fine just keep it down."

Baymax complied, and he sucked in the air from a vacuum in his internal system at a quiet volume, used in the event of getting around tight places in a hospital. Sora followed Hiro down the stairs with Donald and Goofy on tiptoe, as the gruff voice grew louder and louder with every step they made.

"We've got a problem with organization, we're all split up…and that's bad business. While we're divided, the cops can keep us under control, but…use your imaginations. We take down this big company, see? Each of us here at the table, are enlisted to perform the crime of the century, which makes Lord Deathstrike the boss, and me the _consigliere_."

"Why him?" asked another voice.

"Because he and I have a vision, and that the future is in _our_ hands."

When Hiro reached the other side, he looked from afar to see an object or two silhouetted by a transparent curtain of tarp. It moved as though it were alive, or rather, a person leaving his perch. Uncertain if the tenants of this abandoned complex were trained in self-defense, Sora readied his Keyblade as did Donald and Goofy with the mage staff and shield and Hiro hid behind the young man, should the occupants attack him. They walked slowly to the tarp on quiet feet, with no sounds other than the voices that were getting much louder than before. It seemed to Hiro that the source of the voices were originating from the sheet.

Sora looked left and right, being certain to make sure that no one was watching them. When they reached the block of tarp, Hiro leaned in, narrowed his eyes, and carefully observed through the aquamarine-colored fabric that looked blurry, but clear. Inside the tarp was a small factory of some sort, with two crane arms manufacturing something from a large canister behind them. The arms moved to the angle of a conveyor belt, placing the object down as they went back for more. Hiro followed the belt where it led outside the curtain, dropping the objects into oil drum and when he got closer, Hiro's eyes were almost beginning to deceive him.

He buried his hands into the container, carrying with them a pile of twenty familiar objects…

"Hiro?" Sora asked suspiciously. "Are those…?"

"My microbots?"

_I guess they were fireproof after all. _Hiro was relieved that his invention had not suffered a total loss after all, but still, he could not help but wonder the existence of these new ones after the rediscovery of the core.

Hiro looked up, letting the microbots fall delicately from his hands as he saw twelve sets of thirty six containers in separate rows. With that amount, Hiro could only estimate that whoever was making these knockoffs had a total of twenty million microbots. Almost an additional eighteen million of the ones he lost in the expo disaster along with Tadashi and Professor Callaghan.

"Someone's making more?"

Hiro was becoming more frightened by the second and his eyes darted left to view a map-a map of San Fransokyo littered with technical drafts and designs. A few notes and a clipping from the _Tribune _were plastered all over with push pins as thin lines of red tape crossed over the map as though they were painted with blood. Over where the Financial District was supposed to be, a blueprint of some type looking like a large Ferris wheel was pinned completely over it, with a white sheet of paper printed with the logo of a red sparrow pasted directly under the blueprint.

Sora walked closer towards the map, gaining a closer look at the blueprint, which read "portal device". Then his head turned to another part of the quarantined section where the voices appeared to coming from. He walked silently over to investigate, Hiro followed after him and Donald and Goofy resumed their crusade on tiptoe. A small part of the tarp was open in the middle, Hiro peeked inside and edged gingerly closer to see a large white plastic table with over twenty nine seats occupied by none other than Big Boy Caprice and a few memorable faces wearing colorful, wide-lapelled clothes.

Several faces at the table he recognized (almost all of the ones that did not have their backs turned on him) were a lot of odd ducks, starting with the dark eyed man with dyed auburn hair and natural black eyebrows who wore a mustard-colored suitcoat and fedora with a matching necktie, a black and white striped dress shirt with yellow suspenders that drew a red stripe down the middle and was holding a cigarette in his wide mouth: Stooge Viller.

Stooge Viller left his wife and daughter Binnie ten years ago in search of gold with his sister Maxine. He served as an early member of the Apparatus to frame several law enforcers and bank accountants for producing counterfeit money. A confident pickpocket that he was, Stooge was soon found out by the future Mrs. Dick Tracy when she accidentally discovered evidence that would testify against Viller when her then-boyfriend had fallen victim to the counterfeit frame-ups. It was also during his time out east that he was the man responsible for the murder of Junior Tracy's biological father Hank Steele after extorting him out of half of his fortune in a mine shaft.

Frank Foley, codenamed "Shoulders" was known for his broad shoulders with wavy blond hair and a misshaped left ear. He wore a dark turquoise suit and fedora with an ochre colored shirt lined in black pinstripes and a zebra striped necktie with circular designs. On the outside, he appeared to be a dim witted brute, but on the inside he was a suave manipulator who took advantage of almost every female that crossed his path. He was a "fixer" and looked as dangerous as green rainbowed meat; and right now he was looking forward to breaking someone else's neck. His leading role in the attempted hijacking of the airline flight to Washington had earned Dick Tracy his heavy bashing from Wendy Wichel, but his most notable crime came in form of a girl named Themesong, a street singer who was daughter of his henchman Roach. Shoulders planned to have the girl distract a crowd of people by serenading them in a street corner, while Roach picked whatever he could find out of their unsuspecting pockets. Again, he was foiled by Dick Tracy and spent a grand $5,000 on bailing his right hand man out of prison and his little girl out of juvenile court.

The man known as Roddy Wilson sat next to the Mole on Big Boy's left hand side of the table. He was so called "Rhodent" because of his round, ratty face, with slick black hair, a pointed nose, a whiskery mustache and small eyes that decimated his vision (even though he proved to be an excellent marksman). His outfit consisted of a purple derby, with a matching suit and necktie and around his waist was a belt buckle that resembled a mousetrap. His blind parents had been unaware of his involvement in swindling store owner E. Kent Hardly out of five thousand grand until his annual visit three years ago had shocked them when he stole $400 from his father's blindfold in order to pay his associate Hillis back for demanding a larger cut of the Hardly fortune. He then spent the next month in drag to overlook the development of the Hardly case through the _Daily San Fransokyo Tribune _and opened up a talent agency with hired killer Halffa Millyon when the case went cold. Rhodent was also involved in a relationship with Mousey Rattner, the owner of a pet store who was said to have ears that were as round as an actual mouse, but she was more interested in small animals like mice and white rats, training and raising them to best of her advantage.

George Grissom AKA the Brow was also a Neo-Nazi known for his heavily ridged forehead. He wore a blood red suit and fedora with a dead black shirt and a tie with red, black and white tiger stripes. In addition, he lacked ears and had thin blond hair that was barely noticeable and it made him look bald from a distance. The Brow's main occupation was sabotage, monitoring ships and leaking confidential information to the black market and he started out as an enforcer for Lips, by extorting protection money from newsstands during the Boris and Zora Arson crisis. He crossed paths with Dick Tracy and the singing duo May and June Summers five years ago after the Big Boy case where he offered them a well-paying job in the shipping business and if they did not perform a satisfying result, he would break their wrists and threaten to his use his deadly invention, the "Spike Machine" to drill holes into their legs. The sisters ran errands for the Brow, but his plans were dashed when the duo betrayed him and rendering him unconscious, threw him into the Spike Machine at the warehouse where they had been held captive. Fortunately for the Brow, he recovered and got out with only a single scar to his forehead from the spikes and got away just before the Summer Sisters called the police and confiscated everything he left behind. For this, Brow kept a low profile before he was invited to join the Apparatus.

Next to Lips on his right hand side was his second in-command, Leonard Finny. He was nicknamed "Little Face" for obvious reasons, and it made his head look like the size of a prized watermelon. In addition to his primary outfit, which consisted of a black fedora with an orange coat, a red shirt, a black, white and orange striped necktie, orange trousers and black shoes; he had blond hair that was short on the sides and swept back to the front. He was considered to be a longtime ally of Big Boy and Lips who often reprimanded his underlings whenever an assignment went awry. Ironically, he would get a similar just dessert when he tried to hide from the cops in a cold storage facility and nearly lost his ears to frostbite.

The rest of the occupants sitting at the table were trading silent looks of suspicion and semi-displeasure at each other while everyone's eyes were on Big Boy as he spoke grandly to his fellow kings of crime in a turquoise pinstripe suit with a purple shirt and a black necktie.

"Let me put it this way: Humanity has fallen a long way since Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. A _disgrace_ to dignity that has befallen on more recent times. For example: I am having my breakfast at the Fairmont this morning…and what do I see? I see the most _awful _sight of some smart kid getting bullied by three older kids and their father for no reason other than he's…just, smart. And now I ask why? Just because some guy who's smart, fat or this case, ugly nothing to scorn about, because they're human just like us."

"Well it worked the Elephant Man, and that other guy, uh…Rocky Dennis?" Flattop asked as his repertoire of notable people with physical diseases was starting to shut down on him.

Big Boy frowned.

"That was a long time ago. People have changed since then," he resumed. "If they can't see it, they might as well be rubbed out, killed and punished for discrimination no matter the size."

"Wouldn't that have us sent up the river in retaliation for crimes against humanity?" asked the Brow in a fearful tone.

"Sometimes you just have to take a risk," Big Boy said. "Like what we're doin' right now. Before we get into the gory details, I'd just like to say that Alistair Krei is no longer under my protection. He has betrayed us."

_Looks like Callaghan was right, _thought Hiro as he continued to listen.

"In the meantime," Big Boy continued. "We'll get the parts we need for this portal and knock him off fair and square. Once we get rid of Krei Tech and all of its other companies…we will own this town."

"I say we kill Krei now," the deep gravelly voice of Pruneface resounded through the area.

Big Boy turned to face him.

"Excuse me?"

Lorenzo Prunesti's hideously creped face greeted him back with a sour expression.

"That's what I say."

"I say you say nothing. I say: 'You get behind me, we all profit; you challenge me, we all go _down_!' THERE WAS ONE NAPOLEON, ONE WASHINGTON, ONE ME!"

Hiro and Sora moved ten steps away from the tarp, hoping that they were far from Big Boy's hearing range.

"Who are those guys?" asked Sora pointing his right thumb at the curtain. "G-men?"

"Almost every hood in town," whispered Hiro. "Big Boy, Flattop, Pruneface, Johnny Ramm, Ribs Mocco, Coffyhead, Sketch Paree-"

"Hiro?"

Hiro looked around; the voice could not have come from Sora, but instead, came from Baymax, who was standing right behind Sora. The older male turned his head counterclockwise and nearly jumped as he shrieked in surprise.

"You almost gave a heart attack!"

"My hands are equipped with defibrillators," Baymax replied.

He held his hands up to his shoulders, placed them together, rubbed his palms three times and when he opened them up again, there were two glowing circles emitting a pale blue from the vinyl skin of his palms.

As he said "Clear," his hands were closing in onto Sora's chest, but Hiro pushed a stunned Sora away from him on his right and held up his hands against Baymax's defibrillators in protest.

"Stop, stop, stop! It's just an expression."

Baymax's defibrillators were three inches away from his patient before he understood and lowered hands, shutting them back to normal. Unfortunately on his part, the criminals heard his cries of distress. Texie Garcia reached into her handbag, pulling out a Mauser C96 Broomhandle with a stripper clip and a 9mm caliber.

"Good thing I bought my gun," she said quietly.

"Told you there was somebody listin'," Crewy Lou muttered to Itchy.

The larger firearms carried by the criminals were hidden under the table, Big Boy loaded the magazine of his Black Army Colt 1911 and left the tent to investigate. Breathless Mahoney, who had been attending the meeting with no other day operations to do, waited in the shadows. Pruneface wielded his Karabiner 98k with strong arms, Influence retrieved his AK-47 Type 2 from under the table, Oodles chambered his Glock 17 and Spots whipped out a Beretta 92 from his right vest pocket. All four followed Big Boy out from the enclosed section as Laffy got out his Walther P99 and whispered, "Hey, wait for me!"

Outside, Hiro, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Baymax heard the sound of footsteps accompanied by a vibration in Hiro's left hoodie pocket: the core microbot. Hiro picked it up and saw that it was quivering uncontrollably as it tried to escape from its prison made of glass. The sounds of screeching and objects forming were heard from behind as Hiro looked slowly up at Sora, then at Baymax, who looked over Hiro's left shoulder and said softly "Oh, no," in return.

Hiro turned around to see a swarm of microbots rising up to ten feet from the containers, followed by Big Boy and his posse.

"Well what do we have here?" he asked inquisitively. "A punk kid, a rock star, a duck, a dawg and a giant balloony. You know you shouldn't be here, 'cause you picked the wrong spot to start your own gang."

"I was just…leaving!" Hiro took this as a definite warning and he ran away from the mobster with Sora and his animal friends of two species. But not before he looked back and saw Baymax moving at a turtle's pace of two miles per hour. He was about twenty feet away when his feet skidded to a stop and he threw his hands down in frustration.

"Come on!"

Baymax took his time, waddling like an innocent baby penguin unaware of the dangers surrounding him (or in Baymax's case, right behind him).

"I am not fast."

"Yeah, no kidding!" Hiro chuckled nervously as he rushed over to retrieve his brother's robot. Despite Baymax being a machine that was only capable on the reliance of a computerized programming, he reminded Hiro too much of Tadashi, and he could not bear to leave him behind as well. Baymax looked down at Hiro as the young genius grabbed his right arm and dragged him to where the trio of foreigners were waiting for him.

"After them, men!" Big Boy shouted. "They're gonna squeal on us to the cops!"

Hiro, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Baymax raced for the door with Pruneface, Influence, Oodles, the Mole and Spots in hot pursuit. Hiro released Baymax from his grip as the robot went back to his normal pace of speed. The boy threw the right side of his body at the door before realizing that it was the same door that was locked.

"Kick it down!" he ordered to Baymax.

Baymax tapped his right foot at the door.

"Punch it!" Hiro pantomimed a right cross.

Baymax obeyed and his right hand curled into a fist. He threw a right jab at the door, only to succeed in pushing his body four millimeters away from his target.

_Why couldn't Tadashi build a battle bot just for me?! _Both Hiro and Donald groaned in exasperation. But, of course, what did he expect from a "non-threatening huggable design"?

Sora summoned the Kingdom Chain in his left hand.

"Shall I use the Keyblade?" he asked.

Before Hiro could answer, a bullet from the Mole's Kel-Tec P-3AT zipped in between them, and he along with Pruneface, Spots, Oodles and Influence were closing in on them, followed by a river wave of twenty million microbots, swirling carefully in-between the criminals to avoid throwing them off their feet. Hiro quickly moved behind Baymax as Goofy, Donald and Sora gave the duo a head-start. The microbots crashed into the wall, mimicking a vicious fluid of streamlined designs and symbiote webbing unlike the way Hiro controlled them. Pruneface, running a bit too fast for his own good, crashed his nose into the wall and directed Influence at the five intruders. Influence complied and fired fifteen bullets from his AK-47 at Sora, who used his own cat-like reflexes to deflect the bullets with his Keyblade.

Hiro continued to push Baymax down the open area of the warehouse until they came across a water pipe attached to the floor. Baymax's sturdy feet tripped on the pipe and he fell face first with Hiro leaping over him and his feet were dangling in the air, completely stuck in a walking motion. As he landed his feet, Hiro went back for the robot and was pulling him by the right arm again, using the vinyl body to shield him from the microbots and the bullets coming their way. Hiro was so afraid by this experience that he did not notice Baymax's head being rammed into by an overhead pipe connecting to the one on the floor.

At last the party of five reached a dark shady area where they came to a narrow corridor. Sora, Donald and Goofy went first while Hiro pushed the robot from behind. Baymax began to experience his first moment of claustrophobia as his body condensed into a boxy shape from all the air compressed within his internals.

Sora reached the other side of the corridor to meet the mulberry-clad figure of Mumbles, who turned his head just in time to see Baymax pelting his body the floor.

"Therheis!" he shouted as Hiro closed the door to the corridor, but just as he was about to barricade it with a lever, the microbots forced the door open, bouncing Baymax towards an underground vent on his tushie and the weight of his upper body forced his head into the entrance, his feet still moving in the air in a pendulum fashion. Hiro and Sora saw this, as well as Itchy on the catwalk, ready to shoot them like sitting ducks with a Thompson M1.

"Move it!" Hiro shouted to Baymax as he scooted himself against the robot's rubber skin.

Itchy was only able to get a good shot of Hiro's right shoe's heel before he disappeared into the vent. Then came Johnny Ramm with his round drum PPSh-41, a Christmas gift from the Arson siblings. He fired at the animal duo, but Donald shouted "_Reflega!_" while Goofy used his shield to throw the bullets off course into the ceiling, creating fifteen miniscule rays of light caused by the damage as Donald pushed his way into the vent and Goofy went in last.

Hiro took the lead, rolling his body into a wall and instructing Baymax and his party to keep on following him like a soldier leading his fellow men through a waterlogged trench. Baymax crawled on all fours as Sora, Donald and Goofy did the same. When Hiro reached a trellis leading to the outside of the vent, he shrieked at the sight of seven microbot colonies flowing downwards in a mixture of an oil spill and dark chocolate ice cream being dispensed out of a machine. Looking through the grate, he was even more shocked at the sight of Shoulders, armed with a Luger pistol in his right hand.

"Freeze, sucker!" was his shout as he fired a bullet into the grate, but the narrow openings of the grate only hindered the bullet from reaching its target. Shoulders was flanked by the Brow with a CZ 27, Rhodent with a gold plated Colt Anaconda and Stooge with a .50 caliber Desert Eagle.

Hiro rotated his head to the right to see another path leading west.

"Come on! This way!" he called to the others.

Brow fired his revolver, only to have his bullet strike the steel structure of the grill. He looked over his back, noticing that Baymax's overweight structure, complied with the flow of microbots were causing the tiles of the vent to rip off from the screws that held them down. His fellow men pointed their guns hastily at the floor in different directions, for the five intruders were going much too fast for them to catch up to. The microbots went right, finding a dead end and headed left to where Hiro was pulling Baymax's right hand out from the vent. Sora and his animal amigos jumped from their underground route, running after the cowardly boy and his puffy robot down an alleyway of crates, boilers and steel girders, the microbots following them at close range and Baymax looking back for full awareness of their presence.

Once the party of five had set foot on a steel plate, the wave of microbots had caught up to them, creating a violent geyser eruption that catapulted the group back to the catwalk near the window where they came from. Sora landed first on his spine with Donald and Goofy crashing into him in a faux group hug, Hiro and Baymax landed on their chests with the droid's right arm shielding Hiro from further harm, as per his protective programming. Hiro lacking Baymax's right arm up with his own, looked right, then left and released a slight gasp from his vocals at the sight of Flattop Jones with his prized Chicago typewriter. He was aiming the muzzle at Hiro's nose with a sharp breath of his pug nose.

"Don't even blink," he threatened.

"Do you always carry an old school gun with you?" Hiro asked in an insensible hint of Flattop's civilian status.

"A gangster always carries the signature Tommy gun with him."

"There are other types of guns, you know."

Flattop pressed the muzzle closer into Hiro's right nostril.

"What are you doing here and how'd you find us?"

Hiro's voice got serious-and cold.

"I was here for the microbots you're ripping off."

Flattop's lips turned into a petite smile. His eyes darted right for split second as if he had seen something, or someone, out from the ominous shadows.

"Then why don't you ask him over there?"

His arms motioned to the right end of the catwalk, where Hiro saw a figure standing alone with the eeriness of a dark spirit threatening to spill a dim entity all over the warehouse.

The figure was completely unexposed of bare skin, for he was dressed in a jet black trench coat with four buttons on his right hand side. He was also dressed in a black jumpsuit with a ten inch zip fastener down the middle, black gloves, white ankle wraps darkened with powder and black ninja boots. The only source of bright color was found within his face: A white Kabuki mask with four blood red lines going up and down on the sides and yellow eyes. As if summoning an evil spirit of Japanese mythology, the figure lifted his arms and hands to the level of his chest and dropped them back down into fists of rage to reveal a flow of microbots gripping onto the railings like an octopus' tentacles.

Seeing the figure walk slowly towards him in a homicidal way, Hiro lifted Baymax to his feet, knowing that the window where they came from was not too far away, pushing Baymax from behind as he shouted.

"Come on! The window!"

They bounded over the trio of foreigners and it was Sora's sharp eyesight that caught Flattop aiming the Tommy gun at Hiro and Baymax. Just as he was blasting away at Baymax's back like a party favor, Sora used the reflect spell on himself and threw the Keyblade like a Frisbee at the Tommy gun. The teeth collided with the muzzle, pushing it with great force. Flattop, surprised and hands losing their grip on the trigger, watched his Tommy gun fall from the left side of the catwalk, the drum breaking free upon impact.

"You're dead, you son of a bitch!" he shouted.

The anvil-headed hoodlum turned his head to the Kabuki mask and aimed his left index finger at the five intruders, three of them having already left the building by jumping over the other two and leaping to the safety of outdoors. Hiro and Baymax, however, weren't so lucky. For the second time, Baymax's inflated body was halfway through the window like an overweight Winnie the Pooh blocking a rabbit hole and Hiro's nose had rammed into his buttocks, bouncing him back from the window. There was no time for Baymax to deflate and he could only look back at the Kabuki mask slowly approaching him with more microbots on the way.

"Oh, shit!" he shrieked out loud.

Hiro was so frightened, that every nerve in his body looked like it was going to collapse at any minute and his face was knocked with fear, eyes wide, mouth open and eyebrows raised. Quickly returning to action, he pushed Baymax with his right elbow, then again with a stronger reinforcement with his right arm. Baymax not making progress in budging any further, so Hiro placed both of his hands on Baymax's bottom and shouted:

"Suck it in!"

But when the last word had been released from his voice, Baymax budged by three meters, and the balance of his position had thrown him over the window, holding on to Baymax's left foot for dear life while Baymax's upper body from the stomach down had taken the place of his behind. Hiro looked down, thinking twice about Baymax's warning of the fatal fall from such a height as Sora, Donald and Goofy shouted from the ground with open arms gesturing him to let go.

"Come on!"

"You can do it!"

"Jump!"

"I can't!" Hiro called back. "I-I'll break my neck!"

Still fearful, he called for Baymax and the robot asked his name in return, puzzled as to where he was. His head looked behind his right, then back to the catwalk as he saw a flow of microbots stampeding directly towards him. Covering his face and chest with his arms, Baymax could feel a slight poke as though he had been stabbed and the further momentum of the microbots pitched Baymax right over the edge, slanting his body towards his back and causing Hiro to release himself from droid's leg.

Screaming with his hands open, legs up and hair blowing wildly in the rush of the wind, Hiro braced himself for the end and as he continued to plunge in what would have been his premature death, he was thought to have heard a familiar voice.

"_Don't worry, Hiro. Everything will be alright._"

_Tadashi?_

Hiro's eyes looked back, praying that it would be his brother (or perhaps the angel of death taking his appearance), but instead, it was only Baymax with his arms wrapped around him. With Baymax's protection, his rubber body bounced off the rusted tiles of a shack attached to the warehouse, somersaulted in midair and finally landed smack dab on Baymax's back. The spur of the impact released the robot's arms, flipping Hiro up by four feet and landing on his behind with his back turned to Baymax before Newton's Law of Gravity could be broken.

Sora rushed over to help Hiro to his feet.

"Are you okay, Hiro?"

"Yeah, I'm alright, but I think my butt's sore" Hiro's reply was groggy as he gestured his left hand back to the window where they fell from. His behind was not as sore as he thought it was.

"I thought I saw Ta-never mind, let's get out of here!"

He grabbed Baymax's right hand, dragging him away from the dangers of the remaining criminals with their firearms and the party of five ran as fast as they could down the street in search of a nearby police station. Hiro was certain that Dick Tracy was an expert on the criminals he had seen behind the tarp, and if he was the one responsible for throwing Big Boy and his malefactors in jail during his five year career, he could do it again. But Hiro was uncertain as to whether or not the authorities would believe such a wild story like microbots and men in Kabuki masks.

Flattop watched them leave from the window, cursing to himself that he would have shot at them like a sniper had his Tommy gun not fallen from his hands. Big Boy rushed over to the catwalk with Crewy Lou, trying to calm the hot-headed hoodlum down with the assistance of the Kabuki masked man.

"Let 'em go," Big Boy placed his right hand on Flattop's left shoulder. "It's still a free country."

"But they'll just go runnin' off to the cops!" Flattop exploded.

Big Boy found no cause for alarm.

"Who knows, maybe they won't bother us anymore."

"Not unless if we move out," said the man in a distorted voice under the Kabuki mask.

"Right you are, Lord Deathstrike. Tracy and the guys in blue ain't got nothin' on me if they believe him. I don't think anyone's gonna take a kid's story pretty seriously. The same goes for his _own_ kind of misfit pals."

He addressed the others from the catwalk in a loud voice.

"Flattop! Crewy! Everyone, back to the club! It's time to put phase two into action!"

* * *

><p>Officer Daniel Gerson, age forty five, dark hair, brown eyes, medium build with a Brooklyn accent and a beat cop's uniform had been recently employed by the San Fransokyo Police Department eight months ago during the time of the Jerome Trohs and Mama case, to which by then he had previously worked at a dog shelter and played an integral role in identifying the breed and ownership of Trohs' dog Tip to the police. As a reward, given his profession in criminology during his college years, he was offered a job at the Bayview Police Station on 201 Williams Avenue. Gerson accepted, but soon realized that police work wasn't as exciting as he had seen on cop shows and Nick Carter dime novels once he had received the position of a desk sergeant and although he seemed like a kind man who was very supportive of Dick Tracy and his Crimestoppers, he was too lax to make a really top-notch policeman. His job was made more difficult under the watchful eye of Chief Brandon, whom he owed for a promotion on the day of his retirement. With only a few months to spare, he had saved enough money to support his relatives, including a will signed by his late grandmother.<p>

It was 4:35 PM when Hiro, Sora, Baymax, Goofy and Donald rushed into the building like madmen, the youngest of the pack panting breathlessly as he rang the bell on Gerson's desk three times with his right hand.

"Sir, excuse me, hello? I'm here to see Detective Tracy about a crime I've just witnessed."

"Tracy's not here, well not in this room at least," Gerson replied, looking dissatisfied as he noticed the young lad. "But if you've come to report a crime in progress, you've come to the right place."

"Thanks for the obvious tip," said Sora, crossing his arms. "Can we just cut to the chase?"

Gerson obliged. "Can you tell me about what was stolen first?"

Hiro began.

"Well, it all started after my last bot-fight. Tadashi wanted me to attend the Institute of Technology, so I made these miniature flying robots called microbots…"

Hiro chose his words about the events leading up to his discovery and described the clothes and facial features of Big Boy, his gang of gruesome lowlifes and the man in the Kabuki mask with care while Gerson documented his words on the Krei Tech monitor.

After ten to twenty minutes, Gerson issued the final draft of the report.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Big Boy Caprice and a man in a Kabuki mask attacked you with an army of 'miniature flying robots'?"

"Microbots," corrected Hiro, as he held the petri dish frantically in his hands.

"Microbots," Gerson repeated, typing in the word with careful fingers.

"Yes!" Hiro tried to make a point by pointing his right index finger at his temple. He had figured out that the headband used for the microbots had to be located somewhere inside the Kabuki man's body.

"He was controlling them telepathically with a neurocranial transmitter!"

Gerson just stared at Hiro with tired eyes, his left eyebrow was raised in a questionable position and it appeared that he not taking Hiro's story too seriously.

"So Mr. Kabuki was using ESP to attack you and these other three and Balloon man?"

The trio of foreigners said nothing, but Baymax took a six inch piece of tape from a roller sitting on the desk. Looking over to his left arm, he inflated until three holes, caused by the microbots that penetrated his arms during the final act of the escape, blew from his elbow creating loud whistle noises that screamed like banshees. He covered the holes vertically with the long piece of tape and repeated the process with his right arm, much to Hiro's distress. Sora could only cover his ears at the loud volume of Baymax's helium. Any louder and he would have definitely popped like a balloon.

_Why couldn't Tadashi build a more quieter robot with armor like every other bot in the world?_

His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Gerson.

"Did you file a report when your flying robots were stolen?"

Hiro dug his hands through his hair, overwhelmed and agitated by these events. His response was rapid.

"No! I designed them to be fire-proof, I thought they were all destroyed in the explosion, and now they _are _fireproof!"

"We saw it, too!" Sora protested, gripping the desk with his gloved hands.

"Yes!" Hiro joined in on the agreement. "I know it sounds crazy, but Sora, Donald, Goofy and Baymax were there too!"

He gestured his open right hand at Baymax and trio of travelers.

"Bayman, tell him!"

At Hiro's command, Baymax pointed his right index finger in the direction of the ceiling and said, "Yes, officer, he is telling the truuuuuuth."

But as he said the last word, the pitch of his voice went deep and his speech started to slow down. His upper body began to tilt forwards and limp like a hunchback trying to raise his voice.

"What's wrong with you?" Hiro asked in surprise.

"Loooooow battery."

A battery logo with an inch of red energy appeared on Baymax's chest. It seemed to Hiro that Tadashi had taken his advice about changing his lithium ion battery with super-capacitors, which could de-charge faster than the former. Even so, Baymax hiccupped and his optical began to open and shut with an electronic chuckle.

"Try and keep it together, big guy!" Donald shouted and he pushed his hands against Baymax's chubby stomach. Goofy and Sora helped while Hiro kept his eyes on Gerson, who was still unfazed by Baymax's action. Due to his high amount of artificial intelligence supported by his energy source, Baymax began to malfunction without the power needed to fully compensate his programming.

"I am healthcare your personal Baymax," Tadashi may have not intended Baymax to slur upon a loss of energy, but his speech was starting to short circuit.

At last, Gerson could not accept Hiro's wild story as a reliable source, he rolled over to the other side of his desk to retrieve a clipboard.

"Kid, how about we call your parents and get them down here?"

Hiro threw his arms up in frustration. "WHAT?!"

_My parents are dead, you insensitive jerk. So is my brother._

Frustrated, he left for the door with Sora, Donald and Goofy carrying Baymax out the door. Baymax reached for the tape roller, foolishly pulling the tape out from the roller.

"Write your name and number down on this piece of paper and we can ho-"

Before Gerson could finish his sentence, all he could see was the center door closing and a tape roller being dragged from his desk.

As if on cue, Dick Tracy appeared from the west wing of the building, having had his own time of a difficult discussion with Chief Brandon about a string of robberies that had occurred over the last month. He noticed the tape roller sitting by the door and looked at Gerson with hooded eyes.

"Make a note, Danny, they waved their right to a phone call."

"Have you been listening?" Gerson turned to Tracy.

"Almost every word of it, but I didn't want to reveal myself to Hiro just yet."

"I hope you know where he is 'cause he just left."

Tracy cocked his head to Gerson.

"Thank you, Danny."

And he rushed to the door.

Outside, Sora, Goofy and Donald tried to tame the wobbly robot by holding him up from his stomach. Hiro stood behind in need of an extra balance.

"I have to get him home to his charging station," Hiro said to Sora.

"You sure your aunt won't mind?" Sora asked him.

"She will as long you won't tell her."

"Can he walk?"

Baymax was sounding more intoxicated by the minute.

"I will scan you now!" he shouted, pointing his left index finger to the south. Then he was standing on his right foot and as he said, "Scan complete!" Baymax tipped back and landed on his behind, hiccupping the word "healthcare" with what sounded like an infectious laughter before his arm slumped back into a dormant mode.

Another voice came into his hearing.

"Hiro?"

It was Detective Tracy with the tape roller.

"I think your robot friend forgot this."

Hiro took the tape roller and placed it in his right hoodie pocket, then he did his best to explain the situation to Tracy.

"You wouldn't believe what we just saw! There was this man in a Kabuki mask and-"

"I heard most of it, kid," Tracy silenced him.

Hiro showed him the microbot core in the petri dish.

"I have proof as well."

Tracy took the dish into his hands and meticulously studied it with his keen eyesight. It was legitimate.

"Seems real authentic," Tracy replied, handing the dish back to Hiro. "But I'll need more evidence than that."

"More?" Hiro was reaching a dead end. "But I saw them, even Flattop Jones was there!"

"This is the San Fransokyo Police Department, we can't go chasing after criminals without the proper basics of solving a crime: we have to be watchful, examine a large amount of evidence, interrogate witnesses and file a warrant for their arrest."

"But Tracy-!"

"Would your brother want to have me sued for false arrest?"

Hiro looked down, mumbling, "No."

Tracy smiled. "Good, you know I've had some doubts about Flattop, Big Boy and his current status recently, but one slip-up and he's back in the slammer."

Instead of a rebuttal, Hiro sighed, "Okay."

Tracy looked at the three familiar figures of Sora, Donald and Goofy and bid them adieu with a tip of his yellow fedora. Then to Hiro, while putting it back, he said.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got an early dinner with Tess and Junior and you should be heading home right now. Come back when you have the evidence."

Then he struck off on foot, down the long avenue.

If something had occurred to him about Hiro's words, it would be that Big Boy's charitable campaign that began after his release from prison had been nothing more than a façade of resuming his criminal organization in a different way. As he walked a few blocks north of the police station, he could not help but wonder about the legitimacy of Hiro's report, though he was certain that he would discuss the matter with Chief Brandon and the Crimestoppers tomorrow morning.

His way aboard a trolley took him to Calzone's Italian Restaurant on 430 Columbus Avenue, which provided a steady stream of Italian descendants of the Lanza crime family as a local hang-out spot. A taxi cab passed Tracy as he drew level with the restaurant, camouflaging his trench coat and fedora for a split second before he entered the door. The moment had almost made him embarrassed, but he put it down to the fact that he didn't like attracting the attention of the public.

Tracy found his wife and adopted son at a table far in the back among a usual crowd of modernists. His sharp eyes took in her red coat and black beret while Junior wore a black newsboy cap black jacket, red shirt, caramel brown trousers and black sneakers. Without Tess noticing, he sat down in front of her at the very table she been saving before her eyes could meet Tracy's with surprise.

"How long have you been waiting?" he asked her.

"Twenty minutes."

"I've been out for twenty three."

"How was work?" Junior asked before Tess could in her usual manner.

"Well," Tracy said as he searched the menu for a spaghetti dish. "Chief Brandon and I just speaking about a few robberies that had been reported since last month and then I see Gerson talking to Hiro Hamada and four other guys about microbots and Big Boy and some guy in a Kabuki mask. He even shows me this black object that looks like a thimble, only smaller and I tell him that he needs more evidence then that-"

Before Tracy could say anymore, a waiter with black mopped hair and a white shirt with black trousers came to their table.

"_Bonjourno, _what can I start you off with?"

Tracy directed his right index finger at himself, Tess and Junior.

"I'll have a seared scallop, she would like the bruschetta and the kid here will have a bowl of spaghetti."

The waiter jotted the choices down in his docket.

"Very good, _signore_."

The dinner proved to be very quick, so quick that Tracy resuming his conversation about Hiro in the car on the way home.

"And so while his balloon friend starts leaking air, he tells Gerson that Big Boy, Flattop and a lot of other crooks are hangin' out at the Union Iron Works Machine Shop near the pier," he said to Tess without looking at her, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Sounds to me like Gerson obviously doesn't know the younger brother of SFIT's most dedicated inventor," Tess replied subtly.

"That guy always thinks of everything as a prank," Junior butted in politely. "One time I tried telling him that aliens were attacking the city and he just said nothing."

"That's true," Tracy said in discomfort. "But I've known Hiro for five years and the only way he could have come up with this story is by putting his brain to good use instead of bot-fighting."

"Does his aunt know?" Tess asked quietly.

"He didn't say, all I heard was his interview with Gerson, he did mention Tadashi though. I doubt that even his late brother could have taken this story seriously."

"If it was Hiro who died instead of Tadashi," Tess pursued the idea. "Would you have believed him?"

"How should I know?" Tracy muttered unenthusiastically. "He's dead."

"You'll let the others know about this right?" Tess asked and her husband nodded. "And poor Hiro, I guess the only consolidation is that you're always on the case."

This time Tracy rotated his head to Tess and smiled at her for two seconds before turning his eyes back to the road.

Junior slumped in his seat, he was looking forward to having a sleepover at the Lucky Cat in hopes of drawing a confession out of Hiro.


	9. Getting the Team Together

It was 6:01 PM by the time Hiro, Sora, Baymax, Donald and Goofy arrived back at the Lucky Cat Café. Hiro peeked his head through the door leading to the upstairs apartment and Baymax, having lost at least sixty pounds of weight (in his case, helium) wobbled near the landing before Hiro helped his back against the door.

"Okay," instructed Hiro in a quiet voice. "If my aunt asks, we were at school all day. Got it?"

Sora nodded in agreement and so did Donald and Goofy. But Baymax, who always spoke the truth, craned his head against Hiro's personal boundary, shouting in an obnoxious manner, "We jumped out a window!"

Hiro took a step back, grimacing with fear as he looked up the stairs to make sure that Aunt Cass was not eavesdropping. His defensive hands blocked Baymax's chin, supposedly where the voice box was located.

"No! Quiet!"

Then he shushed the rambunctious robot and Sora did the same. This time, Baymax's reply was quieter.

"We jumped out a window…"

"You can't say stuff like that around Aunt Cass!" Hiro whispered. "She'll have a heart attack and eat everything in the café!"

Hiro wasn't planning on hiding Baymax in the first place, but since the drunk robot was unable to keep his mouth shut, he knew that now was not the best time to introduce her to Tadashi's _magnum opus _since it was apparent to Hiro that she did not see Baymax leave when he went in search of the other microbots. So with a shushing gesture from his left index finger and Baymax doing the same with his right, Hiro darted up the stairs with Sora, Donald and Goofy in pursuit, leaving Baymax at the bottom. He looked down and hovered his right foot over the first step of the staircase, he only meant to go two steps at a time, as Tadashi had once showed him when trying to be stealthy. This training procedure was accomplished by having Tadashi place a six step foot ladder in front of Baymax, who walked up all the steps at a normal pace, and when in stealth mode, climbed the second and fourth steps before making it to the sixth.

But in his current deflated state, the weight of Baymax's right foot began to decrease in velocity and losing his balance, tipped forwards and slammed the top of his head on the second step of the stairwell. Hiro and Sora turned back in surprise to see Baymax lifting his upper body in a lightning fast reflex, resuming the "shushing" gesture with his right index finger.

"Glad he's all right," Goofy whispered to Donald. "I was beginning to wonder if Hiro's aunt will notice us."

Donald placed his left index finger on Goofy's mouth, smiling as he said, "Don't worry, we won't tell her anything."

Goofy smiled and he Donald continued their way up the stairs where they heard Aunt Cass' voice coming from the kitchen.

"Hiro? You home sweetie?"

He was walking up the top of the stairs when he replied. "Yeah, that's right."

She was putting down a blue bowl and a pepper shaker on the table in front of her and sure enough, there was Hiro grinning like a Cheshire cat, resting his left hand on the railing, his right hand on his hip and his left foot was crossed with his right leg. Next to him was Sora, whose smile was more genuine than Hiro's and his arms were resting on the railing.

Cass chuckled as she tucked back a lock of her brown hair. "Oh, look at my little college man," she smiled. "And I see your friend's back too."

Sora nodded. "Yep!"

Then she remembered something very important.

"Oh the wings are almost ready!"

Just as her back was turned, Hiro's Cheshire grin was interrupted by a shrill "Wheeeee!" from Baymax, jolting and convulsing up and down as though he were being possessed by a demon and needed to be exorcised. Hiro quickly moved his head and shoulders away from the insane robot and placed his hands on the crown of Baymax's head, pushing him back down the stairs as he whispered, "Will you be quiet?!"

Cass, thinking that the wild cry belonged to Hiro, held up her right hand and bounced the Buffalo wings in the blue bowl near the sink, imitating the yell.

"Yeah! Wheeeee!"

Hiro made a nervous chuckle out of fear from blowing Baymax's cover, and as Donald and Goofy helped the limping robot up to Hiro's room in a quick push, Cass went to the table carrying two dishes of tomatoes, white cheese and cucumber and the bowl of Buffalo wings in her left hand, muttering to herself, "All right, get ready to have your face melted...you're gonna feel these things tomorrow, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Her face cringed at the mere mention of diarrhea. But her mood had immediately lightened when she set the bowl of Buffalo wings on the table and turned around to face Hiro.

"Okay, sit down and tell me everything."

Her smile faded by a small muscle when she saw Sora, hands behind his back and feeling happy with Hiro to his right on the landing of the stairs, resuming his faux grin.

"The thing is," Hiro began, ruffling his right fingers with his hair. "Since I registered so late, I have a lot of school stuff to catch up on."

The clatter of a book falling from the computer desk was heard from the bedroom. Cass scrunched her face with a confusing look as she darted her nose up to the ceiling.

"What was that?"

Hiro crossed his arms, trying to be congenial with his aunt with a serious look on his face.

"Just Mochi," he replied with an angry cat. "He's a bad cat all right!"

Out of nowhere, Hiro heard a low purr and felt his ankles against something fuzzy and hairy like a cherub ball of fur. His initial thought could have been a tarantula or a wooly bear caterpillar, but looking down, saw that it was only Mochi cuddling against his ankles. The bobtail looked up at Hiro with his adorable peridot colored eyes and before Hiro could do anything drastic, Sora scooped up the cat into his arms and carried him to the bedroom without a thought.

Thankfully, Aunt Cass' back was turned once Hiro informed her that the sound came from Mochi.

"Well at least have something to eat," she said giving her youngest nephew a dish of rice and three wings.

"Thanks for understanding," Hiro replied as he took the dish with a lying smile. Then he carefully carried the dish up to his bedroom, uncertain as to whether or not he should eat it, but food was the least of his primary concern.

"Don't work too hard!" Cass called as Hiro disappeared up the stairs.

Through his fixed smile, Cass felt that something was wrong with Hiro, but she was uncertain, thinking that a day of school had gotten his mind off of Tadashi. Then again, maybe there was something else behind his odd behavior as she sat down to an empty table of Buffalo wings, celery and rice. With her eldest nephew dead and her younger nephew whom she saw as the only son she had ever known starting to distance himself away from her, Cass could only feel a familiar cloud of depression seeping into her bloodstream.

"Hairy baby! Hairy baby…"

Hiro and Sora arrived in the room just in time to see Baymax sitting on the floor near the landing and petting Mochi's back with his left hand, his eyes at half-mast and his voice starting to speed up, then slow down. Mochi, upon sensing Hiro and Sora, turned back at them in a snooty glare and left Baymax's lap to spend his dinner with Cass. Donald and Goofy were awed by the displays and artifacts of the bedroom, careful not to touch anything to avoid a quick reprimand from Hiro.

Hiro placed the dish down on the table under the coat rack acquired Baymax's left arm and wrapped it behind his neck like a scarf. Baymax himself was more wobbly than ever as he pushed Hiro into the oval mirror, tilting its bottom up by six degrees.

"I am healthcare your personal Baymax," the robot waddled with a speech impediment as they reached the charging station by the wall.

"One foot in front of the other," Hiro instructed.

Baymax moved his right in the charging station, then out again, in again, out again, in again and both feet were safely placed inside the charging station. A battery logo on the middle of the luggage showed the status of the battery and the bar went quickly up to full along with Baymax, who was slowly inflating by ten seconds.

Hiro moved two steps away from Baymax, turned to the window, and seeing that it was night, dropped his spine on the bed, tired, flustered and wracked with a mixture of emotions from a long day of adventure. He removed the microbot core from his right hoodie pocket, took it out of the petri dish and studied it with his fingertips.

"_This doesn't make any sense,_" he muttered in Japanese.

The boy felt just about ready for bed, looking up to the ceiling as he dropped his right hand down on his abdomen with a breath. After a second of silence, Baymax interrupted his thoughts.

"Tadashi."

"What about him?" asked Sora.

"Tadashi programmed me to remember him," Baymax explained.

Hiro looked over at the dark shadow of Tadashi's side of the room, where his brother's San Fransokyo Ninjas cap lay on the bed in a haunting reminder of the evil red flames that took Tadashi away from him. He turned away from the room and buried his eyes into the pillow, shutting his world away from Tadashi's forever.

"When will he return?" Baymax's voice resonated.

"Tadashi's dead, Baymax," Hiro tried to block the tears. "He's never coming back."

Being a robot, Baymax remained optimistic, showing no remorse for the loss of his creator.

"Tadashi was in excellent health, with a proper diet and exercise, he should have led a long life."

Hiro's voice began to break, further and further with each word.

"Yes…h-he should have…but there was a fire…he ran inside to save Professor Callaghan…the whole building exploded…I held his hand, when he died…and now he's dead."

Hearing this caused Sora to sprout a tear from his left eye. He wiped it with his left hand before the drop could reach his lips.

_Why should I be crying? _He thought to regain composure. _Tadashi was Hiro's brother, not mine. If it was Ven, then I'd have a reason to cry._

And he remembered the same words he said to Hiro on the night of the showcase:

"_What if you woke up one morning and realized that Tadashi wasn't there anymore?_"

"Gawsh," Goofy cooed in a sad voice. "That's the most tragic story I've ever heard since forever."

Donald led Goofy away to let the humans and the robot alone for a few minutes. After their footsteps disappeared from Hiro's hearing range, Baymax replied in a strong voice.

"Tadashi is here."

Hiro clutched the pillow like a stuffed animal.

"He's not."

"In your heart is what Baymax means," Sora indicated by his crown pendant.

But Hiro could only bury himself further into the bed, wanting to shrink away from the whole world and into another where his brother could be an immortal being.

"I don't want him in my heart, I want him here with me."

He began to go against his own words.

"Aunt Cass, my new friends and even Detective Tracy keep telling me that Tadashi's not really gone as long as we remember him…but I don't believe them. It still hurts."

"Despite the fact that it was you who said those words? About him not being gone as long as we remember him?" Sora remembered from the funeral.

"Words are just words," Hiro moaned.

Baymax tilted his head to the right.

"I see no evidence of physical injury."

"It's a different kind of pain," Hiro explained. "It's called grief."

"I've had loads of grief in my experience," Sora added. "You don't see _me_ moping and curled up into a ball. No, I go on, confident that I will live to have a full, honest life."

Baymax waddled three steps to Hiro.

"You are my patient. I would like help."

"And so would I," Sora said.

"You can't bring back the dead, buddy," Hiro sobbed.

He heard a soft electronic noise, opening his eyes to see Baymax flipping through different websites on the computer monitor.

"I am downloading a database on personal loss," the robot explained.

The monitor went blank.

"Database downloaded."

Baymax's readout displayed "Bereavement" under diagnosis, later adding "Contact with family and friends" under treatment.

"Treatments include contact with friends or loved ones," Baymax explained as headshots of Fred, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Go Go appeared on his chest with a turquoise person symbol above it. "I am contacting them now via wi-fi homing signal."

Hiro did not wish to have anymore company besides his brother's robot, thinking that the nerd quartet would only consolidate his emotions with some unneeded happiness. So, he jumped of the bed and scrambled his hands against the contacts only to succeed in displacing them under a white ripple and disappearing out of sight.

"You friends have been contacted," the robot replied.

Hiro jolted his eyes upward to the northeast direction of his eyelids and flung his left hand in the open air.

"Unbelievable," was his reply.

_Great, now I _really _am starting to sound just like my brother._

Before anything else, he could feel a soft substance gripping his back and his waist.

"What are you doing?" Hiro identified the substance as none other than Baymax, whose neck was perched on top of Hiro's wild black hair.

"Other treatments include compassion and physical reassurance."

Hiro encourage a smile.

"I'm okay, really."

Baymax twisted his head away from Hiro's point of view.

"You will be all right," he soothed.

Hiro's eyes followed Baymax's right hand and closed as the hand patted his soft, wavy hair two times over with Baymax's comforting voice:

"There, there."

Hiro turned to the squishy bot and embraced his heavy-set stomach, returning the hug with a pat of his left hand.

"Thanks, Baymax."

The robot set himself back by three steps.

"I am sorry about the fire," Baymax apologized.

Half of Hiro's happiness faded.

"It's okay, it was an accident."

Then something occurred into Hiro's seamless mind: an epiphany. Detective Tracy had told him during the funeral that the fire may had been an act of vandalism and he promised the boy that would catch the person responsible, but so far had not. He looked over at the microbot sitting on his pillow, studied with his right hand and took a careful observation at the four inch object, realizing:

"Unless, maybe it wasn't an accident."

"You mean the whole showcase was a set-up?" asked Sora, thinking out-loud.

"Not exactly, but sort of," Hiro answered as the great amount of truth was processing into his thoughts. "The guy in the mask works for Big Boy, not only did he steal my microbots by setting off that fire to cover his tracks, but he's the one responsible for Tadashi's death."

Sora was alarmed.

"You don't think Tadashi was…_murdered?_"

"I'm positive," Hiro said, facing the window. "And if Detective Tracy wants evidence, then its evidence were gonna get! We gotta catch those guys and bring him to justice!"

"Then count me in!" Sora voted.

Hiro turned his head counterclockwise, but he was not answering to Sora…his eyes were entirely on Baymax. The young genius was imagining his brother's great work as something more exciting-a battle bot.

"But first, you're gonna need some upgrades."

* * *

><p>As Hiro prepared for a new chapter in his life, the Club Ritz was having a jaunty Mexican fiesta, courtesy of Mumbles, who used his connections in South America to "pull a few strings". Big Boy was using this as a distraction for phase two of Lord Deathstrike's master plan as well keeping the club at a perfect, yet seemingly innocent image of a fancy restaurant rather than a speakeasy. A caravansary of the city's Hispanic residents, including Mr. and Mrs. Miyazaki, were invited to attend. Recycled streamers representing the Mexican colors of red, white and green endorsed the ceiling, since the party had only been announced in such a short notice. Dishes of nachos, salsa, albondigas soup, cheese enchiladas and tacos for appetizers. The band members were dressed in the costumes of the Three Amigos, the Ritz Girls wore the traditional attire of grape-stompers, with skirts and headscarves of red, blue, purple, celeste, iris, and viridian and Breathless, donned in a black, white and red matador outfit, was singing a crazy little tune in her best impression of <em>La Cucaracha<em>.

_I'm going bananas,_

_And I feel like my poor little mind,_

_Is being devoured by piranhas._

_For I'm going Bananas!_

Far behind the stage from the stairs, the man in the Kabuki mask, Lord Deathstrike, watched her from afar. There was something about this enigmatic barroom singer that made him feel compassion with an impressive hauteur. But alas, he could he not show his true feelings for her as he left for the conference room upstairs.

Big Boy's spacious office was quiet, with the man himself in his favorite chair amongst a dozen gangsters sitting at the reflective glass table of a brilliant blood-red slash. They were planning to strike the Naval Shipyard at Hunter's Point for a piece of portal technology that had been lost at sea some three months prior as they lazed about with cigars, cigarettes, chocolate-covered nougats, walnuts, champagne, whiskey and rich tulip glasses of LaCroix Lime Sparkling Water.

B-B eyes was pouring a stiff glass of whiskey into his glass, offering it to Coffyhead who shook his right hand no, but Crewy Lou, Measles and Oodles were willing to help themselves.

"Pay attention, everyone," Big Boy began. "Am I right to think that nobody knows except those four guys and that balloon thing?"

Spaldoni, sitting opposite to Big Boy, was confused.

"Umm…..No?" he asked in a dim-witted way.

"Then there's someone else?"

"When I said no, I thought you mean yes."

"So there _is_ someone else?!" Oodles asked excitedly.

Big Boy felt like he was talking to a brick wall.

"Spaldoni, you're my lawyer, and what lawyers do is make a law. Now all I want is a simple straight answer: is there no one else besides us who knows about the crime of the century?"

Giorgio tried to find the right answer.

"No?"

"As in there is or isn't?" Big Boy inquired.

Johnny Ramm hated to see his friends argue, thus he interrupted the argument to prevent World War III from breaking out over a simple question.

"Friends! Please!" he shouted in a friendly smile. "Don't ya think we should do something about that kid and his friends before he finds out what we're really up to?"

"How?" Big Boy asked with open hands. "We don't even know where he is, we don't know where he sleeps, so how can we look for him if we don't have his address?"

"Or who he is," added Pear-Shape.

"As long as he doesn't bother us," Itchy stated. "He won't get too suspicious."

"Itinkhezspicious," Mumbles uttered to Stooge Viller on his left hand side.

"For once I agree with you Mumbles," Stooge said, puffing his cigarette. "I think he's suspicious already."

By now Texie Garcia was at her wit's end. Given the amount of alcohol introduced to her system, the criminals could already tell that her speech was beginning to slur.

"Oh, who cares?!" she whined, toying with the glass in her right hand. "Those guys don't really matta. Let him tell the whole damn world about us! Tracy and the guys in blue will get us soon enough and we already have A DEAD SCIENTIST AND A CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR ON OUR HANDS!"

"Oh shut up, Texie," Big Boy gritted under his teeth.

He had not been this upset with her since the day he kidnapped Tess Trueheart for his impending payroll robbery. Big Boy's flirtatious efforts over Ms. Trueheart made Texie so jealous that she was willing to commit suicide by putting Big Boy's M1911 at her temple. This attempt was later foiled by her arrest was immediately forgotten by her following interrogation (and failed bribery) with Detective Tracy, who did believe her confession that she had been the one firing the gunshots when he entered Caprice's apartment.

At last, Flattop spoke out to Caprice.

"What do you suggest for phase two?"

"Well, since there appears to be some slight confusion as to our loyalty, I say that only a few of us will have to stay behind and look after the club."

"I suggest we handle it in proper military fashion," Pear-Shape agreed. "Suppose that one of us is a traitor, those who stay behind will look after the fort and prevent it from falling into the enemy hands. Now all in favor, say 'aye'."

Mumbles, Measles, Lips and Coffyhead raised their hands in agreement.

"You sure about this?" Ribs asked his boss.

"This is a gang war, Mocco," Big Boy said. "Casualties are inevitable."

* * *

><p>Whenever Cass sat down to watch a recorded movie on her television set, her selected genre would be a horror classic. With Mochi in her arms, Donald on her left and Goofy on her right (both of them on the floor), she sat on a chair, eyes glued to the monitor watching Colin Clive shouting in ecstasy "It's alive! It's alive!" in a colorized version of James Whale's <em>Frankenstein <em>from 1931. Now on its one hundred and first anniversary, Cass was immersed by the century old technology that brought Frankenstein's monster to life.

As a result of her indulgence on the fascination of how the dead could be brought back to life, even a hundred years ago, she did not turn her head to see Sora, Hiro and Baymax walking behind her on quiet feet. Donald and Goofy's ears however, did notice and they turned their heads counterclockwise to see Sora signaling them with his right index finger. They turned back to Cass, then Sora, got up and walked to the stairs. Baymax was also fascinated (and curious) over the technology featured on the TV monitor, and he was about to join Cass when, a step later, he was dragged downstairs by a hasty Hiro, who escorted the probing robot to his garage. He didn't care about his aunt now, he was intending to surprise her with the news that he had sent Tadashi's murderer up the river.

Placed against the garage door, painted with a mountainous view and a bonsai tree on the cliff of a hill, Baymax held his arms up in a crucified position to let Hiro scan him with a Datalogic QuickScan QD2100 that he held in his right hand.

"If we're going incapacitate Big Boy and those other guys, you need to fight and I will be your master."

Pushing the central button down with his thumb, a light green ray covered Baymax from head to toe and grid outline of his body appeared on Hiro's 3D printer monitor.

"Will apprehending Mr. Caprice and the man in the mask improve your emotional state?" Baymax asked as Hiro dashed to the monitor on his swivel chair.

Hiro added the correct colors to his model of Baymax.

"Absolutely," he replied as if he were speaking to Tadashi.

With extra force of his hands, he pushed himself away from the monitor towards his regular computer monitor. On it was an application for model viewing and editing with Baymax on the right screen and the left screen which read "Click to Browse Videos" under a tube shade. Above them on the top of the screen were "File", "Edit", "Layout", "Data" and "Cache".

"Let's work on your moves."

Hiro pressed the right mouse button on "Copy to Chip" under "Data" and began typing "/Hiro/Desktop/Data_Chip_120" in the "Save To" search engine with rapid fingers. On the other monitor, he played a video, dated six months ago, of him and Tadashi practicing a match of karate and jujitsu. He paused the video on himself lifting his left foot on Tadashi's left hand as he was about to block it. With a swish of his right index finger, the video clip moved from the second monitor to the main one. Fourteen construction joints in the form of red dots appearing on Baymax's body turned to green as Baymax's figure took Hiro's position. Then, reminiscent of the rotoscoping process used in an animated feature film, Baymax's model copied Hiro's attacks against Tadashi in a near-perfect synchronization. Hiro nearly laughed as he watched himself in the video strike Tadashi's neck with his right elbow in a near-perfect Palkup Chigi, reliving all those matches of Taekwondo, Soo Bahk Do, Aikido, Judo, Hapkido, Pankration and Sambo, but now was not the time for ruminating, he needed to bring Big Boy, the man in the mask and Tadashi's murderers to justice…even if it meant killing them.

As the orange bar covered the word "Capturing", Hiro faced Baymax, who was standing behind him, watching the maneuvers of his maker and his younger brother going at it in a not-so-bloody battle.

"Now let's take care of this."

And to prove his point, Hiro playfully poked at Baymax's belly two times with his right index finger and used the computer desk to shove himself away from the monitor. Baymax's gaze followed and he looked down, repeating Hiro's poking with his own index finger.

Zipping over to the 3D monitor, he displayed nine images of a football player from the San Fransokyo 49ers, a couple of armored Chinese soldiers (one from the Southern Dynasty, the other from the Northern Dynasty), an armadillo, two robots, armor plating and bulletproof vests for reference material. Throwing the images around, Hiro connected an orange line from Baymax's left forearm. At the end of the line under Baymax was a triangle, which Hiro transformed into a carbon-fiber shoulder plate. Sora, Donald and Goofy watched him with awe as Hiro typed correct letters of "Print" and the printing process was set into motion.

Baymax reached Hiro just as he pushed himself away from the desk and rolled his way to the third computer attached to the 3D printer, pressed seven keys and whizzed his way to the 3D printer where two mechanical arms processed, painted and modeled every intricate detail of the shoulder pad. Then, wearing orange shaded protective goggles, he furnished the shoulder pad with a jigsaw. He also put back the Li-ion batteries into the robot as a secondary power source.

In no time at all, (about thirteen minutes at least) Baymax looked down upon the fittings of his new body. His reply was:

"I have some concerns. This armor may undermine my non-threatening huggable design."

His helmet, shoulder pads, arm pads, and leggings were dull-green, the same shade of green on the jacket that Tadashi wore on the night of his murder, which Hiro specifically chose in the most honorable way he could think of. Underneath the pads were black tungsten carbine fabric and white gloves, but his biggest concern was a black rubber corset coating his stomach. It was looking more plumper than what it used to be, but Hiro didn't care.

"That's kinda the idea, buddy," he said pointing his fingers down in exclamation. "You look sick!"

"I cannot be sick," said the marshmallow. "I am a robot."

"That's just an expression," Hiro apologized.

A male voice rung on the monitor.

"Data transfer complete."

Hiro knew the program was ready and he lifted his right foot with a push to the computer to retrieve his accomplishment. He typed the right four buttons and out of the slot came a chip that was as red as blood, and just to have some fun with it, Hiro patented the chip with a piece of black Velcro and a skull that he drew himself. In a way, the skull symbolized his determination, showing that he was not afraid to take a human life with a calm expression.

He opened up Baymax's chip slot…to reveal the last remnants of Tadashi Hamada inside the green chip created specifically for the health-care robot, handwriting and all. Hiro stood there, dead to the world like his brother was right now, remembering that all of Tadashi's DNA was encoded into the chip. Should anything happen to it, Tadashi would be dead for good.

"What are you waiting for?" Sora asked from behind. "Just put it in."

"I-"

Hiro tried to resist the temptation of committing suicide to be with his brother again…he now had a more meaningful purpose in life, just as Tadashi wanted him to have and after three seconds, he placed the red chip in the second slot next to the green one and the slots were closed.

Within his readout, Baymax analyzed the red chip and every form of defense, combat and melee in the book was inherited into his intelligence. The first melee move to be parsed was rising block, followed by reverse elbow, block, roundhouse kick and a myriad of every known form of attack recorded throughout the ages. With his own sense of self-control, Baymax looked down at his owner.

"I fail to see how karate makes me a better healthcare companion."

Hiro remained ever kind and smiling like there was no tomorrow.

You wanna keep me healthy, don't you?" he asked as he took out seven inch board of maple wood from a stack by the door used for his matches with Tadashi.

"Punch this," was his command and Baymax scanned the board in a grid analysis. With shut eyes, Hiro turned the left side of his face away from the impending blow. Baymax positioned himself very steadily and he thrusted his right fist forward, splitting the board in half and showering a couple of splinters on Hiro's face.

The boy opened his right eye, then his other, resuming his head back into a normal position, shouting, "Yes!"

Sora, unsure if Hiro was still aware that he, Goofy and Donald were still in the garage, just applauded for his success.

A minute later, Sora helped Hiro balance a stack of four wooden boards on the sides of two black-topped stools.

"Hammerfist!" the boy gestured and shouted.

Baymax obeyed and he plunged his right fist into the boards. Not a single one remained intact.

"Sidekick!"

Hiro placed an unused wooden shelf sideways, and Baymax pushed it away with his strong right foot.

"Knife hand!"

Donald and Goofy attached three boards to a trio of medium blue clamps and Baymax used his right fingers to chop the wood into six pieces with the reflex of a cheetah.

"Back kick!"

Bringing back the turned over shelf, Baymax spun his body clockwise in a 120 degree angle and his right foot broke the shelf to smithereens. Woodchips lay across the majority of the garage floor, but Hiro was getting more and more obsessive with each move that Baymax had performed successfully…and all without a year's worth of training, one might add.

"Gummy bears!"

"That's not a move," Donald said matter-of-factly.

"It can be if you have your own personal vending machine," Hiro added and he presented the trio with a yellow colored vending machine with a pig's open mouth drawn over the dispensing compartment at the bottom. On the third row in the middle were a bag of gummy bears that only costed $1.25. Baymax placed his left index finger against the glass over the bag and an electromagnetic propulsion activated the machine to release the gummy bears. It had taken only four seconds for the bag to drop and Hiro whispered, "Yes!"

For the next minute, Baymax displayed his variety of combat skills. Ending with a rising block, he straightened himself, faced Hiro and the two bowed to each other in a _saikeirei_.

Hiro was enraptured, and with excited movements, held his right fist at the base of Baymax's corset.

"Yeah! Fist bump!"

Baymax looked down at the fist. Even though Tadashi's memories were encoded onto his healthcare chip, some of them were blocked by the corruption of the fighting chip overpowering some of his healthcare skills with his newfound will to fight for mercy…or not at all.

"Fist bump is not in my fighting database," he admitted sadly.

"This isn't a combat move," Hiro rectified. "It's a secret handshake that me and Tadashi do whenever we were…excited or pumped up."

He grabbed Baymax's right hand and clapped it with his own hand. After two seconds of trying to get it all together, Tadashi's memories of his and Hiro's handshake were flooding into Baymax's databanks. He clapped Hiro's hand, then on the dorsum, locked their fists together and Hiro went first, finishing the handshake with his imitation of an explosion that sounded more like a quiet whoosh and lifted his right arm high above him. Baymax, a peacekeeping robot in his prime and unable to accurately replicate human sound effects, had his own catchphrase to complete the handshake as he slowly drummed his fingers.

"Bah-la-la-la!"

In spite of the poor response, Hiro was pleased.

"Now you're getting it!"

"I will add 'fist bump' to my care-giving matrix," finished Baymax.

Sora summoned the Kingdom Key, followed Donald with his staff and Goofy with his shield.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go catch some criminals!"

Hiro zipped up his hoodie, prepared for cold temperature outside and off they went for the warehouse, never looking back as they headed down the road.

* * *

><p>In her bedroom; decorated with ten shades of yellow and pink furnishings, Honey Lemon was sitting on her bed, listening to the strong percussion beats of "Bop to the Top" by Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel on her iPhone. When she reached the bridge of the song, an incoming call from Go Go Tomago had silenced the music altogether.<p>

"Hello?"

"Hey, Aiko. Did you happen to get a call from Hiro at some point around 7:00?"

Honey's smile dropped into a frown. She was supposed to act surprised that Hiro had called them back after all the time had spent up in his room, but she was back to feeling sorry.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know if he would want to call me. Maybe he wants a dinner date."

Honey heard another voice on Go Go's line. It belonged to Fred.

"What's that about Hiro?" the young man in the green beanie had asked her. "Has he finally gotten out of his shell?"

"Perhaps," said Go Go, honestly. "Do you think we should pick him up? My bike can't fit all of us if Damion wants to come."

"My parents took the car to Club Ritz for some celebration," Honey found her voice. "If they had known sooner, they would have dropped me off to babysit Hiro for the time being."

"I'm just glad my parents don't go to some traditionalist nightclub," Go Go replied with sheer fulfilment. "And Hiro's not a baby anymore, he's a pre-teen."

Before Honey or Fred could respond, they could hear Wasabi on speaker from Go Go's phone.

"We could take my van," he suggested in a static voice. "My parents are asleep and I'm sure they won't mind if we visit Hiro. But just where do you think he might be?"

"At his home of course," Go Go replied in belittled frustration. "I think he has a homing signal on his GPS."

"Why would anyone want to put a homing signal on him?" Fred overreacted. "Is he being watched by the government?"

"This isn't _The Bourne Identity_, Fred," Go Go snarled. "From what Tadashi told me and Aiko is that he placed them into Hiro's hoodie so that he could bail him out of bot-fights. Not to mention keeping a close eye on his brother 24/7."

"Maybe we can follow him just in case he's left the house," Wasabi suggested.

"I'm pretty sure he's still there," Go Go assured him.

But she was wrong, fifteen minutes later; after picking up Honey first, Go Go second and Fred last, Wasabi made his way to the Lucky Cat Café via Portola Drive in his 1990 Mitsubishi Minica Toppo when he soon spotted five figures heading down an alleyway near Noe Valley: two of them looked human, one looked like a duck, one looked like a tall dog and the other looked like an extremely heavyset man with metallic edging.

"It must be them," Wasabi muttered and they decided to surprise Hiro by following him at a distance.

* * *

><p>When Hiro, Sora, Donald and Goofy arrived at the Union Iron Works Machine Shop, Baymax went first while the other four went behind him to prevent an ambush of being showered by a lead rain and a tsunami of microbots, since the armor was bullet-proof and Baymax's strategics would finish off several of the smaller microbot waves with a few chops of his hands.<p>

They walked carefully to the door on quiet feet and Baymax lifted his left foot, delivering a blow so strong that it pushed the door right off the hinges and further into the warehouse. Sora and his animal friends readied their weapons and Hiro, looking like a coward so to speak, came from behind Baymax's right and pointed his right index finger at the large space of room shouting, "Get 'em, Baymax!"

But there was no one. The interior of the warehouse was pretty much the same, had it not been for the absence of the microbot manufacturing machine, the drums and the tarp that covered Big Boy and his posse's conference table.

"HELLOOOOOO!" Donald sing-songed, oblivious to the dangers of the invisible criminals. "ANYBODY HOME?!"

There was no response other than the echo of Donald's loud voice and Hiro lowered his arm in defeat.

"We're too late."

He removed the microbot petri dish from his right hoodie pocket, squirming to get out of the dish in a northeastern direction.

"Your tiny robot is trying to go somewhere," Baymax observed.

Hiro looked his head over to the right. In the distance was the Naval Shipyard of Bayview-Hunter's Point, which seemed to be only about a hundred feet away and apparently the current location of the microbots.

"Come on," he gestured to Baymax and the fearless five dashed into the yard.

The Naval Shipyard was located on 638 acres of waterfront at Hunter's Point with over six cranes and two hundred and ninety eight shipping crates from all over the globe. True to its name, the yard served a base for navy ships until its closure in 1994 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. It proved useful again as a secondary ship yard for loading and unloading freight from trains, trucks and small aircraft carrying appropriately sized loads.

The cars owned by Big Boy and his clique of criminals were parked next to a red 40ft shipping container, which made Hiro certain that the crooks were using the ship yard as a secondary hideout. He heard two voices as he walked his way up the pier, which belonged to Pear-Shape Tone and Laffy Smith.

"Lord Deathstrike's makin' a dive," Pear-Shape said to the incompetent Mr. Smith.

"Who would try to throw a piece of technology into the sea?" Laffy chuckled.

"The guys who probably owned the piece, no doubt," Pear-Shape replied. "All we gotta do is give the boss another hour and we'll be outta here."

_If those guys see me, I'm dead. _Hiro had to act quickly. His eyes were locked in full concentration on the microbot in its petri dish and he walked faster and faster to the source. As he passed a lime colored street light, he felt a jerk from the pullover of his hoodie holding him back and his left foot dangling over a four foot drop into the water. He looked down and saw what would have become a very embarrassing situation.

"Always wait one hour after eating before swimming," Baymax reminded as he pulled Hiro back.

Goofy's long droopy ears heard a set of voices as Hiro thanked Baymax from a wet situation. Behind a corner of containers were Little Face, Brow, Shoulders, Stooge Viller and Rhodent all grouped together over something that looked like strips of bacon.

"What'cha eating?" Stooge asked Rhodent.

"I took a bag of beef jerky from the kitchen before we left," he offered a piece to Brow. "Want some?"

"No thanks, I'm trying to cut back."

Little Face was smoking on a cigarette. He blew a puff of secondhand smoke onto the letters "KT" on the red container behind him. Some of the smoke got to Goofy's nose, and he tried his best not to sneeze, so he backed away for a sneeze that, hopefully, was out of the gang's hearing range.

"I still can't believe we're robbing this son of a bitch," Little Face snarled as he tapped the ashes out. "Big Boy tells me he's fit to be wasted, especially after he cut off his money with him."

"Along the robotics scientist and the chemistry professor who got roasted in the big flambé last month?" Rhodent squeaked in his high voice. "It's like killing three traitors with one gun."

"Or in this case, a flamethrower," Shoulders sighed with boredom. A card game would have been perfect for this occasion, in this way the five could bet on whoever got the piece first.

At last, Goofy blew his nose, which caught Sora, Donald and Baymax's attention, but not Hiro's. He had been observing the microbot struggling to break free from the petri dish. With all its might, the microbot pushed the top open…and flew away…far away into a fog of darkness at the speed of a single bullet.

"Hey!"

Hiro extended his right hand in response, but the microbot was too far from his reach. It was silent for four seconds…until Hiro could see a figure from atop the clouds. With an ominous buzz, the figure's bottom appeared to extend, showing what might have been a long neck or a tail and like a mermaid rising from the sea, was none other than the man in the Kabuki mask riding on a hill of microbots. Donald heard footsteps coming from their rear flank and he gestured, "Someone's coming!" in a hushed voice.

As they ran for cover behind the pair of red containers (Little Face and his friends had already left through the opposite direction) Hiro looked cautiously at his new archenemy. The footsteps belonged to Big Boy, who was wearing a turquoise double-breasted suit with black pinstripes, a turquoise Persian lamb overcoat with a black collar and a turquoise hat. The hunchbacked criminal was making room for the Kabuki man, his microbots crashing a small wave of water against the concrete pier and spilled all over, even going as far as soaking the soles of Big Boy's boots.

"Did ya get it?" he asked.

"I have," replied the Kabuki mask in a distorted voice and he presented the piece of machinery that looked like the front of a rail cannon with the logo of a red sparrow on its left end.

Hiro studied the symbol as it came over him. Sora turned his back to hear another voice: Crewy Lou; she had been standing on guard with Itchy and Measles by her side and a flashlight was attached to her Winchester Model 12. It seemed pretty clear to Sora that Itchy was suffering from fatigue and Measles was smoking on a cigarette looking bored out of his mind as evidenced by the inactivity prior to the Kabuki man's mission of dredging the river for his missing object. Frustrated by their laxity, Crewy Lou glared at Itchy and slapped the back of his head with her right hand.

"No snoozing," she reprimanded in a harsh voice. "Boss wants to make sure the kid and his misfit friends won't be interruptin' us."

"What's the use?" asked Measles in a weak voice. "It's not like he's somebody we know and besides, it was just once."

"I think he'll think twice before showing his ass around here again," Itchy said back.

"I'm just doing what Big Boy told us," Crewy Lou took a sniping position. "Now keep your eyes open."

And so they did, but since their backs were turned on the intruders, Sora had wiped his brow in relief. It was not too long however when he heard a pair of four footsteps.

"Say, Texie, did ya know where you put that notebook?" asked the voice of Ribs Mocco.

"Big Boy has it," Texie replied. "Tracy couldn't resist using it to recover practically everything we stole from six years ago, that's for sure."

"Yeah," Ribs sighed. "Good times."

Hiro was willing to have his own memories of "good times" as well – one of them being a ceremony hosted by his aunt and Detective Tracy for putting his brother's murderer behind bars. Aunt Cass spoiled him with a huge bowl of buffalo wings and chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and Tracy rewarded him with a medal of heroic service. As he backed away from the unsuspecting eyes of the Kabuki man, Baymax noticed something.

"Your heartrate has increased dramatically."

But Hiro took no notice.

"Okay, Baymax," he whispered. "Time to use those upgrades."

Baymax lifted his left arm, using his right one as a defensive guard. But before he could take action, the bright lights of a car came into Hiro's field of vision. He gasped once the car had stopped, the doors opened, its passengers were leaving the front seats and Hiro, thinking that he had been caught, was shielding his eyes with his right hand, knowing that his fate was sealed with a bullet to the forehead and he would be with Tadashi again…

But fortunately on his part, the lights turned off, revealing the figures of Wasabi No-Ginger, Honey Lemon, Fred Lee and Go Go Tomago.

"Hiro?" they all asked in unison.

Sora was relived.

"Oh, you guys."

Hiro raced up to them in his defiance. He did not wish to have any innocents like Tadashi's research team be involved in such a dangerous task.

"No! No! No!" he shouted quietly. "Get out of here! They'll shoot you!"

"Who'll shoot us?" asked Honey in confusion.

Her question was overshadowed by Wasabi.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked the raven haired boy.

"Nothing!" Hiro resumed his Cheshire grin once more. "Just going out for a walk. It helps my prepubescent mood swings."

"We were trying to find the guy in the Kabuki mask," Sora corrected. He was beginning to show an agitation towards Hiro's lies.

But Wasabi's ears were focused on Hiro or Sora, they (along with his hazel colored eyes) were focused on armored robot standing six feet away from Hiro. Its shape and size reminded him of a similar robot that Tadashi Hamada had presented on the last day of his life and would later become his living legacy.

"Is that Baymax?"

Go Go stepped forth as Hiro tried to protest. She directed her left thumb at the droid's helmet.

"Uh, why is Baymax wearing carbon-fiber underpants?"

Baymax motioned his forearms up and down as if he were doing the robot dance (which was ironic, being one himself).

"I also know karate."

Hiro was frantic. Out of the corner of his left eye, he was thought to have seen Crewy Lou discovering their position, and rather than firing off a warning shot, she turned to look for Big Boy. She found him in a discussion with Lord Deathstrike that was too far for her to hear and she only heard peels of Caprice's gruff voice and so as not alert the intruders by driving them away, decided to draw Big Boy's attention by flashing her lamp on and off like a Morse lamp. Lord Deathstrike looked over Caprice's head, and he could translate her message which read:

"SOS. Intruder alert. Send help. Immediately."

Meanwhile, down on the ground away from Big Boy, Honey Lemon was trying to calm the frantic young raven.

"You have to go."

"No. Don't push us away, Hiro. We're here for you. That's why Baymax contacted us."

Speaking of Baymax, Hiro turned his head to hear him speak about another one of his treatments.

"Those who suffer a loss require support from friends and loved ones."

Hiro held his hands defensively at Baymax.

"Okay, but-"

"Who would like to share their feelings first?"

Sora wanted to tell his own emotional experiences from his journeys across other worlds before Fred raised his left arm and jigged his way over to the robot like a rap singer.

"My name is Fred Lee and it's been thirty days since my last-"

Fred was about to say "shower" before he heard the noise of groaning metal and he looked up just in time to shout "Holy Mother of Megazon!" at what he had to see.

"Am I the only one seeing this?"

Suspended above the group was a 20ft orange container held by two pillars of microbots, the finial decorations shaped like geysers. Next to the man in the Kabuki mask on his center right was Big Boy Caprice, arms crossed and looking down at his frozen-with-fear enemies with a very unpleasant scowl.

"You just don't know when to stay out of trouble, do you?"

Honey Lemon, thankful that she had brought her iPhone with her, snapped a picture of Big Boy and the Kabuki man in a quick flare of flash photography. Hopefully, she would present it as photographic evidence to the authorities. But unfortunately, the flash only irritated Big Boy and the Kabuki man's eyes.

"No paparazzi here, toots!" he turned to his benefactor. "Give it to 'em, Deathstrike."

The group ran for cover as the masked man plunged the container down at them except for Wasabi, who screamed bloody murder and shook his hands wildly as his life flashed before his eyes. He screamed so loud and so high that the criminals would have taken him for a banshee or a siren singing off-key.

"I DON"T WANNA DIE!" he sobbed grossly.

He opened his eyes, realizing that he was not in the afterlife, nor a spirit, but alive since Baymax had been supporting the container for the last eight seconds.

Hiro pointed to the van.

"Go!"

Then to his faithful robot.

"Baymax, get him!"

Go Go, having realized that Hiro was still behind, grabbed his left arm with her right and dragged him to the shotgun seat of the Mitsubishi. Honey Lemon and Fred were in the back and Wasabi was at the driver's seat.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Saving your life," and Go Go closed the door.

Once they were inside, Hiro lifted his left arm at Baymax, who had thrown the container aside and was charging at Big Boy and the Kabuki man.

"Baymax can handle that guy!"

But just as the words escaped from his lips, Big Boy shouted "Uppercut!" to Lord Deathstrike and he used the microbots to form a giant fist that delivered an uppercut to Baymax's chin, catapulting the robot at thirty feet into the air…the trajectory landing him directly onto the roof of the van. The passengers inside ducked their heads upon the impact of Baymax's rear end ripping through the roof.

"Oh no," was his reply and the rear view mirror had fallen off from the wake of the blow.

The other criminals spotted Wasabi shifting the van in reverse and that is when Big Boy shouted, "After them, before they rat us out to the feds!"

Sora threw his Keyblade into the air by eight feet and a spark of light created a Keyblade Glider (or Keyblade Rider in some terms) in the shape of a winged caster board, just like his brother Ventus' glider. Donald and Goofy hopped on Sora's back, intent on serving as the glider's weapons for a high speed chase. The Keyblader kept his balance on the midsection while Donald took the starboard wing and Goofy took the port wing.

As the thugs scrambled to their cars and readied their firearms for battle, Go Go, riding shotgun, kept her concentration on the Kabuki man as she interrogated Hiro.

"Hiro! Explanation, now!"

Hiro's hands were gripped on the front seats. His right on the passenger seat and his left on the driver's.

"H-he stole my microbots, he started the fire, he killed Tadashi and I don't know who he is other than he works for Big Boy Caprice!"

Looking through the windshield, Hiro could see a column of microbots rushing straight toward them.

"Baymax!" he ordered rapidly. "Palm heel strike!"

Baymax did so. He held up his left palm and when the microbots made contact, the force of the blow had pushed the car further back from the column and out onto Crisp Road, spinning wildly against the wet pavement. Donald even used a freezing spell on a sharp spike of microbots that came almost immediately after the column.

Inside Big Boy's Cadillac, Spaldoni slammed his right hand on the car horn, signaling the cars of the other criminals as Lord Deathsrike charged the microbots after them.

On the Mitsubishi, Baymax rotated his head 180 degrees for a scan, looking back to see the Kabuki man with Big Boy's Caddy, Flattop's Toyota, Lips' Yukon XL, Oodles' Volkswagen, Pruneface's Audi and Coffyhead's Durango speeding after them at fifty miles per hour. Over his highly advanced audio system, he could hear Flattop shouting "Itchy, faster!"

Itchy, being an avid fan of Katy Perry, was playing "Hot N Cold" on the car radio while B-B was riding shotgun with Crewy Lou and Flattop himself leaning out of his rear right window with the Tommy gun.

"No one touches these guys but me!" he told his moll.

As they sped up Oakdale Avenue, Go Go directed Wasabi with her right index finger.

"Hard left!"

And so he did. The car screeched onto Bayshore Boulevard, its right rear wheel lifted off the road. The right side of Fred's face was pressed against the left rear window as the car crashed over three garbage cans and headed straight down the boulevard, avoiding a barrage of three bullets from B-B Eyes' Smith and Wesson.

In an alleyway, a patrol car was parked with Sam Catchem driving, Pat Patton in the passenger's seat and Policewoman Lizz riding in the back. Tracy had taken the night off and they were taking over his shift for any gambling raids or other offensives. So far there had been the report of a petty theft on Cesar Chavez Street, involving a woman's purse getting stolen by a handsome man of twenty eight and it turned out the thief was her boyfriend trying to return it to her. When the Crimestoppers followed him to the Silver Crest Donut Shop, the man and the woman were snuggling up to each other at a small table and he admitted that alleged theft was an honest mistake. Now, here they sat, waiting for a speedster or two to show up in the middle of a quiet road.

"I for one am guilty about making up the cause of the Tech fire as a discharge," Patton sighed to Catchem.

"How should I know?" Catchem said incompetently. "I ain't no firefighter."

"Tell that to the fire department," Lizz commented, and before she could say anymore, a van, a hoverboard, six cars and what looked like the neck of the Loch Ness Monster came speeding past them on a grand speed of sixty miles an hour.

"Great Scott!" gasped Patton. "What was that?!"

Catchem looked left and right. There were no signs of the speedsters anywhere and the incident had happened so fast, he did not know what to do next. He wished right now that he had bought a radar gun for the trip.

"Well, whatever they were," he muttered to his Irish pal. "They're gone now."

The Mistubishi with Hiro, Baymax, Honey, Fred and Go Go inside was zooming down the road as fast as Wasabi would let it, based on the speed limit signs telling him to go at fifty miles per hour. Sora was trying to deflect the oncoming bullets from Lips' Yukon with the reflect spell. Inside the car was Brow riding shotgun and firing off five rounds of his CZ 27, attempting to shoot the rear tires.

"Yo, Little Face, get behind the tires!"

Little Face's signature firearm was a Smith & Wesson Model 60 with a barrel that was the size of his face and black rubber grips. He carried it in his right hand, and while keeping a firm grip on the steering wheel, fired two rounds at the rear right tire, only to succeed in having the bullets strike the pavement with a _zip_.

The man in the Kabuki mask, heading in-between Flattop's car and Big Boy's Caddy on a tidal wave of microbots, saw an overhead bridge of tracks belonging to the Caltrain route. Rather than lowering his head at the obstacle, his thought process allowed the bots to push him over the pass at about six feet and he landed his feet right back on the wave like a professional surfer.

Fred and Honey looked back at the chasers from the safety of the backseat of the car. Honey was frightened but Fred squinted his eyes and a mental lightbulb was brightening every dark corner of his mind.

"The mask…the black suit…the henchmen…"

An epiphany had struck his central nerve system.

"We're under attack from a super-villain, people! A real bad guy-a Yokai!"

He pressed his hands against the window and smiled to Honey Lemon, who was gritting her teeth under the vibration of the car. That, or she was becoming more and more afraid by the minute.

"How cool is that? I mean it's scary, obviously, but how cool!"

Flattop, still leaning from his side of the Toyota, loaded the drum of his Tommy gun and fired ten rounds in an "M" shaped direction of a sort. The first two struck the pavement, missing the rear tires. The third and fourth bullets crashed into the rear right brake light, shattering it into tiny pieces of glittering rubies. The next four bullets shattered the rear window, causing Fred and Honey to duck as the male screamed with his hands on his beanie, "HOLY SHIT! THEY'RE SHOOTING AT US!"

Finally, the last three bullets completely destroyed the rear left brake light and the tail lamp, decorating the road with a hundred shards of red and white lenses, which were further scattered by the tires of the whooshing cars and the running microbots. Oodles felt a few bumps in his Volkswagen, but he felt unperturbed, although his car managed to swerve off course due to a small puncture from the broken glass of the Mitsubishi's rear window. He stopped the car's rear bumper from hitting a street light and followed after Coffyhead's Durango once he was able to get the car back on the right side of the road.

Wasabi looked back, counting the distance between himself and the criminals before he reset his eyes back on the road and screeched the car to a stop at the intersection of Bayshore and Geneva Avenue.

"Why have we stopped?" Go Go asked impatiently.

Wasabi craned his head up at the traffic lights.

"The light's red."

And it was, but a person like Leiko Tanaka would _never, _in her entire life, accept defeat with a stop light.

"_THERE ARE NO RED LIGHTS IN A FUCKING CAR CHASE YOU DUMB NIG-!_"

Before she could discriminate Wasabi with a politically incorrect choice of wording for his skin color, Flattop's Toyota pulled up next to them on Go Go's side of the car. The flat-headed hood himself was smiling devilishly at Go Go with his demented cupid's mouth. The Tommy gun was cradled in his arms, and without warning, he was likely to have pulled the trigger down at any minute.

"Well, well, well, Flattop Jones," Go Go said unenthusiastically.

"One and only," Flattop smiled.

"Yo, Flattop!" Wasabi cried frantically. "Why ya'll trying to kill us?!"

Flattop fixed his eyes on his "Trench Broom" and reloaded the drum magazine.

"Well, you know the old saying."

"What old saying?"

Wasabi gulped once he saw Flattop aiming the "typewriter" directly at his nose.

"It ain't personal, it's just business."

His tone went dark once he was aiming the gun at Wasabi's brain. Just as his right index finger was pulling the trigger down, Sora, having seen this from his glider, shot a bolt of white lightning at the barrel, jerking Flattop's arms and his gun upwards and firing off fifteen rounds of .45 ACP cartridge bullets into the air and one of them even took out the middle traffic light, allowing Wasabi's Mitsubishi to escape down Geneva Avenue. Sora pushed his right foot down on the front of the glider and took off after them. This time he was trying to be more wary of the criminals coming after them.

"Why is he trying to kill us?" Wasabi asked to no one in particular.

"Simple of criminals!" Fred replied rapidly. "We've seen too much!"

Honey Lemon, however, placed an optimistic smile on her lips. Despite Flattop breaking the window just three minutes ago, she was confident that her peers were just simply overreacting.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, _amigos_. We don't _know _he is trying to kill us!"

But just as she said this, Flattop fired the "Chopper" again, this time with twenty rounds that rang through the already shattered rear window and penetrated the seats, causing the passengers to duck as Honey curled into ball, hands covering her ears, eyes shut and screaming in Spanish, "_**OH MY FUCKING GOD, HE'S TRYING TO KILL US!**_"

Influence, riding in the passenger seat of Pruneface's Audi R8, fired eight shots out of his AK-47, but the first bullet only succeeded in shooting off the left wing mirror, while the rest struck the pavement and the last bullet nearly punctured the rear left tire. Go Go, a mere three seconds after the attack, noticed something else.

"Did you just put your blinker on?"

And so it was, it was signaling Wasabi to turn right onto Mission Street. Go Go, having driven a motorcycle most her life, never had to use any blinkers to indicate her turns, she could go anywhere she wanted to even if meant breaking the speed limit.

"You have to indicate your turn!" Wasabi shouted frantically. "IT"S THE LAW!"

_Fuck the law_. Go Go spoke quietly in her head. But what she said out loud was:

"That's…"

And she removed her pink Bubble Double piece of gum right out of her mouth with her right hand…

"IT."

…and stuck it on the dashboard, a symbol of good luck she had learned from her idol, Cliff Secord (otherwise known as the Rocketeer); a stunt pilot from the Golden Age of Aviation who flew with a jetpack that allowed him to fly from Los Angeles to New York, fighting Nazis and rescuing his damsel in distress Betty Page.

Go Go, on the other hand, was far from being the traditionalist damsel in distress and being the strong-minded and independent young woman that she was, pushed Wasabi back, sat on his lap, pulled the gear shifter down and slammed her right foot on the gas pedal. The car's rear tires screeched with fury and hurtled forward; Go Go could see that "Yokai" was up ahead blocking the way. She severed the car up Mission Street with Sora trying to catch up with her speed of seventy miles an hour.

Inside Big Boy's Cadillac, Spaldoni (who was driving the car), asked his boss.

"You think we should head 'em off at the pass?"

Big Boy, who sitting in between Ribs and Texie in the back seat with Johnny Ramm riding shotgun, just shrugged with disapproval.

"That kinda stuff only works in the western movies, Spud. It's the freeway where we outta head 'em off."

Spaldoni nodded and Ramm exchanged his agreement. If they were fast enough, they would catch the intruders at the freeway or somewhere further along the way if Lord Deathstrike didn't get there first. It seemed to Big Boy, that Deathstrike was travelling faster on the microbots than any of the cars involved in the chase.

The Mitsubishi cruised down Mission Street as fast as a roller coaster (or a race car in this instance), passing the John F. Foran Freeway before Big Boy or "Yokai" could reach them. They raced up San Jose Avenue, down Cesar Chavez Street, up Holiday Avenue, passed the Asian Art Museum, up Hyde Street, turning left onto Turk Street, a little further up Market Street and then finally up Stockton Street with Wasabi screaming all the way. Go Go hoped and prayed that none of their actions would reported to the authorities, especially her parents of all other people.

Soon they came to the Stockton Street Tunnel where a sign telling the cars to be quiet was placed over the alcove. Flattop's Toyota was still the closest car to the Mitsubishi, with Big Boy's Cadillac far behind. The other cars were at a close range, but with every direction Go Go had taken, the Mitsubishi was not too easy to miss, especially since Flattop had memorized the license plate: 100PCE.

Their chances of using the tunnel as an escape route were dashed when the man in the Kabuki mask appeared, as if out of nowhere (he had taken a shortcut, no doubt). A hill of microbots was barricading the tunnel, but Go Go saw this as an opportunity to use a power slide, a favorite move from her days in the San Fransokyo Criterium. Her hands pulled hard on the steering wheel, causing the rear tires of the Mitsubishi to slide in a 120 degree angle and leap into the road above the tunnel. Sora jerked the front of the glider upwards, with Donald and Goofy holding onto his arms as the rider rocketed after the Mitsubishi. Big Boy and the other criminals in their cars raced after them on the ramps leading to the road on both ends of the tunnel.

"Stop the car!" Hiro shouted to Go Go once they were on Bush Street. "Baymax and I can take the guy down!"

But before he could take further action, Crewy Lou pumped the Winchester and leaned her upper body from the left rear window of the Toyota. She took aim and fired a single shot at the passenger door, intent on shooting off the hinges. The large amount of damage from the bullet, along with the unneeded assistance of the microbots, ripped the door right off and Hiro, unfortunately, was standing close to the unoccupied passenger seat without a seat belt and his right hand was resting on the door. The raven haired boy lost his balance and just when it looked like a quarter meter of California Street would be painted with the blood of his forehead (and his brains), Baymax grabbed the pullover of Hiro's hoodie with his right hand.

Hiro's nose remained within two inches of the tarmac before he was stopped by Baymax and dragged back into the car where the trusty robot placed the seatbelt on, holding up his right index finger and speaking as if he were in a PSA.

"Seatbelts save lives. Buckle up every time."

The Mitsubishi jumped over the intersection at Montgomery Street as Sora transformed his Keyblade into dual guns. These guns were a special ability he had perfected ten years ago and could also combine into a cannon, which charged briefly and then quickly launched a powerful burst of light that emitted a multitude of colors as it dissipated. Sora used this on Flattop's Toyota, but landed a few feet in front of the car, causing it to jerk wildly with screeching brakes. He fired a second shot at the man in the Kabuki mask, but dodged the oncoming blast as Go Go's reckless driving bounced the van further down the road, turned right onto Drumm Street and further up Market Street where they came back to the bay. Go Go saw a railroad crossing up ahead, it's lights turning a bright red and bells ringing. She rotated her head to the left by five inches and heard the horn of a diesel locomotive coming from the east direction.

A freight train bound for Portland, Oregon was late and the engineer was driving the engine at top speed to make up for lost time. Any chances of the speeding Toppo outrunning the train were thirty to sixty, but not for Go Go the speed demon; she pulled the emergency brake handle up by 12 degrees and the car powerslided, reaching the other side of the crossing before the gates closed, allowing the freight train to safely cross without a gory accident taking shape, much to Wasabi's screams of "Woahwoahwoah! Whatareyoudoing?!"

While Sora, Donald and Goofy were able to jump over the speeding train by lifting the glider up then back down on the street behind them, the Kabuki man and the criminals were unfortunate and were forced to follow the band of college students and the three flyers on the opposite side of the Embarcadero alongside the freight train.

"So much for heading them off at the pass," Johnny Ramm said to Big Boy in the Caddy.

But Caprice was silent, and so were the other passengers of the SUV. The comedic nature of the current events were starting to become serious.

Hiro turned his head to the right from the fallen door, being certain to make sure that Sora was still behind them and that they had lost the criminals…but he did not count on "Yokai" using the microbots to lift himself above the mid-section of the engine, his figure rapidly appearing and disappearing behind the arches, fixtures and slanted walls of an overhead bridge. Hiro pondered over Fred's christening of the man in the Kabuki mask as "Yokai", which was Japanese for "spirit", "ghost", "phantom", or "strange apparition". The yellow eyes were directly locked onto the pure innocence of Hiro's russet colored pupils as if he had known the boy from somewhere or someplace.

_Tadashi?_

It was an illogical thought, but Hiro could not shake the feeling that this man was his older brother, coming back to haunt him.

Go Go turned the car onto the San Fransokyo Bay Trail and Sora followed, breaking Hiro of his thoughts. Honey Lemon was getting anxious.

"Did we lose them?" she asked the younger boy.

As they reached Piers 30-32, Wasabi shouted.

"LOOK OUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!"

A ten foot wall of microbots caught Sora off-guard, and he, Goofy, Donald and the Mitsubishi were surfboarding on a microbot wave that was turning into a tunnel. The opening was getting smaller and smaller by the second. Sora and his friends powered their weapons, Honey's heart was pounding faster than a hummingbird, Fred remained wide-eyed and sacred, Wasabi gritted his teeth, Go Go's adrenaline was concentrating on her speed and Hiro shouted to his robot.

"Baymax! HOLD ON!"

Baymax held his arms against his body and lowered his head.

"We're not gonna make it! We're not gonna make it! We're not gonna make it!" Wasabi cried.

"We're gonna make it! We're gonna make it! We're gonna make it!" Honey shouted in fear.

"WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!"

The tunnel closed…Sora lifted his Keyblade…and shot sparks of lightning throughout the bots, short-circuiting them entirely and launching the Mitsubishi into the air like a cannon. It flew for a split second before gravity kicked in and sent the van back to Earth.

Wasabi was relived.

"We made it!"

But alas, their victory lasted in only three seconds flat. Before Go Go could stop, the car pitched forwards over the pier and landed into the water. With a sudden jerk, the windshield cracked and the passengers bumped themselves into the seats and dashboard upon impact.

"Everybody okay?" Hiro asked with rapid heartbeats.

"I think I broke my nose," Go Go moaned, trying to keep her nostrils from bleeding.

"I told ya we couldn't make it," Wasabi was hyperventilating.

"I stabbed my brain," Fred smoothed his forehead with his left hand.

"I just got my period," said Honey, quoting Audrey Griswold from _National Lampoon's Vacation_.

Fred looked at Honey with a quizzical expression and before Baymax could scan them for injuries, a creak came from below the chassis. The car floated in the water for a minute, then started to flood from the open door and pulled the front of the Mitsubishi down by the front bumpers.

"HELP!" Honey screamed in a voice she hoped Sora would hear. "WE'RE SINKING!"

Sora, having flown the glider right off the road, circled the submerged vehicle.

"We gotta help them!" he urged he friends.

Donald and Goofy allowed Sora to jump first, then the duck used his mage's staff to create a bubble that trapped him, Goofy and the glider. Given its magical purpose, the bubble would not pop until it could be disused and as Sora swam after the sinking Mitsubishi, he too was encased in the bubble from behind his back. He could even breath too, and able to cast spells on exterior forces without breaking the effervesce.

Itchy saw the pier as well and he quickly jackknifed the Toyota to a stop just fourteen feet from where the Mitsubishi fell. The rest of the cars slowed down and stopped just before the Toyota; the criminals took out their guns to fire at what was left of the car as it sank. Flattop went first, followed by Itchy and B-B Eyes; they fired a rain of lead down on the trunk door and the roof of the car, allowing it to sink even faster with further damages and scrapes. Yokai, on the other hand, got a better view of his success from his high perch of microbots. He watched his enemies sink down, down, down into a watery grave.

At last, when the car was completely submerged, Big Boy stood in-between his allies with a slicing hand gesture telling them to stop.

"Cease fire!" he ordered in the voice of a military commando. "They've had enough."

He looked down into the black water; the Mitsubishi disappeared out of sight.

"Think they'll swim back up?" Flattop asked nervously.

"They'd better not," Big Boy's voice was grim. "'Cause if they ain't sleepin' with the fishes…they'd better not show their asses around here again."

He looked left and right at his fellow gang members with a smirk.

"Back to the club, guys," he spoke in a lighter tone. "And we'll celebrate over a dinner of steak."

Crewy Lou smacked her lips hungrily. Steak was all she needed after a month of planning the crime of the century.

* * *

><p>Four hundred square miles below the surface, the front bumper of the Mitsubishi struck solid ground on the sea bed. Hiro furiously held his breath and tried to remove the seat belt between strokes, yet the buckle guard had been mangled upon a disturbance from the impact of the plunge.<p>

_I'm sorry I couldn't find out who killed you, _nii-san. _Maybe you can tell me all about it when I reach the Pearly Gates._

He was ready to accept his fate: death by a mixture of salt _and_ fresh water.

The bubble containing Sora, his friends and his glider (having transformed back into the Keyblade as they fell) floated down to Baymax and stopped with the help of Donald's staff.

Donald checked Baymax all over. There was something he should have known about the robot.

"Sora? You do know that Baymax is inflatable is he?"

"Yes," Sora nodded. "If we remove the armor he can take them back up to the surface."

"What about in here?" Goofy asked.

"I don't think we'll have room in the bubble for all of them, especially Baymax."

So Sora rotated his Keyblade counterclockwise and fired a bolt of lightning at Baymax. In an instant, the top half of the robot's armor popped off, but now was not the time for a resolution, they had to rescue the research team.

He offered the teeth of the Keyblade sticking outside the bubble to Go Go, who retrieved her gum from the dashboard and Wasabi followed. Next were Fred and Honey, the latter holding her nose as a fail-safe option, should her cheeks lose their strength. Finally, Hiro was the last to go; Sora cut the seat belt with a single swing of the Kingdom Key's teeth and Hiro swam his way onto Baymax's right shoulder. Underneath him was Fred, who was wrapped around the arm. The girls were wrapped under Baymax's left hand and Wasabi clung to his left shoulder.

At last, with another bolt of lightning from the Keyblade, Baymax was free from the armor with only the collapsible titanium skeleton as his weight, but it did not hold him down. Rather, Baymax had used his internal helium to push the party of six back up to the surface in an upright position and Donald's bubble helped to accelerate the momentum.

When they reached the surface, Baymax was lying on his back and the teens were released from his grasp, holding on to the droid's stomach as they gasped for air. Subsequently, Donald popped the bubble with a puff of light from his staff as soon as the upper half reached the surface, soaking the lower halves of Sora, Goofy and himself. They swam over to Baymax, relived that none of the young adults were seriously injured, especially Honey Lemon who placed her ever-going smile back on her face.

"I told ya we'd make it, _amigos!_"

Baymax was now able to perform an overdue scan on team.

"Your injuries require my attention and your body temperatures are low."

"We need to leave in case Big Boy comes back," Hiro breathed.

"Can't we just go back to your place?" asked Sora. "If your aunt's not asleep, she must be worried sick about you."

"Thanks for the advice, Sora, but I can't let her know just yet."

Fred's eyes narrowed with a smile.

"I know just the place."

Sora hopped on Baymax's stomach and used the Keyblade to paddle the team back to the pier. Donald and Goofy swam after him and one by one, they were safely out of the water. Hiro even removed his hoodie to squeeze out the amount water soaking the fabric; even placing it back on, making him feel more uncomfortable with the condensation of the water being turned into cold air. With everything organized, the party of nine set off, hoping that a long walk would dry them off within the hour.

* * *

><p>Back at the Club Ritz, Breathless popped in the conference room to watch Big Boy and Lord Deathstrike (currently addressed by the team as Yokai) go mano-a-mano in a heated argument over the ultimate fate of the intruders. The other criminals were sitting at the table, watching the scene unfold with fear and worry over how the fight would end. It had started when Big Boy noticed a thirty millimeter scrape on the left side of his Cadillac from a collision with an apartment building, a couple of dents on Flattop's Toyota, a damaged bumper on Oodles's Volkswagen among other details like a punctured tire. At any rate, the use of a credit card or an online repair service was bound to bring in a full set of nosy G-Men.<p>

"It wasn't my fault," Lord Deathstrike confessed. "It was your reckless driving and besides, even if those brats didn't make it out, it should be smooth sailing from now on."

"I don't care if they made it out or not!" Big Boy yelled. "This whole chase is going cost us $10,000 in damages to our cars, even if it's just couple of dents!"

Lord Deathstrike shrugged.

"What do I care? The least you can do with all the money you have stolen is to have your car repaired."

"And risk getting caught? That's a big fatal mistake you've got there."

"Are you calling me a failure, Caprice?"

"I have no use for fucking failures. You're not the one tellin' my boys about messin' up the rub-out. They were being tested, they flunked. Now they're just flunkies, like you! I don't care if Tracy or the black headed kid put one and one together, don't matter to me. You're still workin' for me. You're on _my_ side. You're not out! You're _not_ out just yet! When you are dead, _then_ you are out! You are _mine_, I own _you_! _Comprende?_"

At last, Lord Deathstrike kept his mouth shut. He turned around, kept his eyes on Breathless like the Phantom of the Opera to Christine Daaé, opened the door and left the conference room with a quick glare to Big Boy and slammed the door shut. Defeated, Big Boy shook his head disgustedly and sat down in his chair. The room was silent for about four seconds when Flattop stood up and asked, "You think we should follow them in case they did make it out?"

"Where?" Big Boy asked in stupidity. "To their hideout? An underground cave? A secret base? A piano store?"

Laffy, having touched a large half of Brut Cuvée, felt bubbly. He spit the champagne right out of his flabby cheeks and began to chortle at Big Boy's sarcasm. He laughed repulsive and hard, so much that he almost fell off his chair. Flattop, thinking that the joke was meant for him, was insulted by the compulsive reply. He was a contract killer for crying out loud! With his hands balled into fists, he walked up to Laffy, sitting on his side of the table two seats down and slapped his left cheek with his right hand as he shouted.

"Oh, shut up, ya damn hyena!"

Laffy started to whimper at the sight of Flattop's menacing mug.

"Sorry," he whispered cowardly.

"What the hell do you think this?! Making jokes at a time like this?"

"Well, in times like these, it always nice to be a jokester once in a while."

"Some jokester!" Flattop scoffed.

He lifted his right index finger and wagged it at Laffy in a very threatening manner.

"You wanna know something, Laffy? If I was the guy who iced Tadashi Hamada _and_ Robert Callaghan, I would kill you next!"

Terrified, Laffy turned his head away from Flattop's nasty scowl, but the rest of the criminals were staring at him in suspicion.

"Well…I did say 'if'."

Silence.

"_IF. _That's all, 'if'."

Crewy Lou stood up from the other side of the table.

"Flattop's right, Laffy. After all, there is only one committed killer. And I think…"

She walked four steps and stopped to make her choice.

"It is you."

She pointed her right index finger at B-B Eyes, who was shaking his head in denial.

"I committed nothing. I was with you the whole time during the robbery last month," he said defensively.

Crewy mounted her hands on the table like a boss.

"But you could have left without us knowing," she said. "If so, how long did it take you?"

"Five minutes. I had to use the men's room."

"Just that?"

"Yes."

"And on another subject, is it true that you were educated in a school for the blind?"

"That's what my parents said, but my eyesight proved otherwise. I used these little eyes to become a sharpshooter."

"So you lured two men to their deaths like the spider and the fly with a gun powerful enough to blow up an entire building?"

"I can find a weak spot even in the most vulnerable building, but not the expo hall."

Uncomfortable with her result, Crewy turned away from B-B and scanned the room for her next subject of "misplaced accusations".

"Who's the explosive expert?" she asked. Her eyes settled upon her victim.

"Pruneface, you're the explosives expert aren't you?"

"Yes, but I was nowhere near explosion when it happened. Nor did I cause the whole showcase hall to explode."

"Then where were you?" asked Coffyhead.

"At home with the wife. We saw it on the news."

"You might as well face the facts, Crewy," Spots concluded. "Neither of us did it."

Lips pointed his right thumb at Spots in agreement.

"Gotta hand it to him, Crewy. There's no point in playing this game anymore. For all I know it could be Lord Deathstrike."

"Right you are," smiled Big Boy. "Because unlike _you_, Lips, _he_ likes to keep his crime scenes so messy, that not even Dick Tracy can find the evidence."

Lips was flustered.

* * *

><p>After walking for thirty six minutes, Sora, Hiro, Baymax, Honey, Donald, Go Go, Goofy, Wasabi and Fred came to a grand Victorian mansion on 1000 California St. The mansion was built in 1886 as a townhouse for silver baron James C. Flood during the last three years of his life. It was also one of the few Nob Hill mansions to survive the 1906 earthquake and was purchased afterwards by the Pacific-Union Club. The façade of the mansion was in neoclassical style with over thirty five windows in the front and was almost three stories high.<p>

Yet, after all that walking, the team was not completely dry of water. Hiro held his arms together from the cold, Go Go was walking immaturely with her fists locked by her waist and Wasabi blew his warm breath into the palms of his hands. Sora, who only been soaked from the waist down, felt like his jeans were completely water logged and the water in Goofy's ears were in great need of being removed as soon as possible.

Fred saw the steps leading to the entrance of the house and quickly left the team to ring the doorbell. Hiro's eyes followed him to the black door of oak wood and gold handles.

"Fred, what are you doing?"

Fred turned his eyes to door, looking as if he been caught red-handed in some heinous crime. He looked back the others and quickly diverted into his comedic-self.

"Well, I told you I knew a place and here it is!"

He punctuated the last three words by forming his arms into a rectangle.

"Welcome to _mi casa. _That's French for 'front door'."

Honey Lemon, a native speaker of the Spanish language, tried to correct him.

"Actually, that's Spanish for 'my home'."

Fred's face remained smug and confident.

"Whatever," he said as he rang the doorbell. But Go Go was having enough surprises for one single night. Her hands gripping her arms were getting tighter and tighter before she bellowed:

"Listen, dickweed. A lunatic in a mask and a bunch of criminals led by Big Boy Caprice just tried to kill us. I'm not in the mood for any bull-"

Before she could finish the "S" word, the right door opened and there stood a thin man with a large nose, a little moustache and black hair with a bald spot on his crown. He wore a three-piece suit; a black jacket, a grey vest, and a white long-sleeved shirt with a black neck tie. He stood like a soldier once he saw Fred with squinted eyes and spoke in a low London accent with a hint of posh in his dialect.

"Welcome home, Master Frederick."

"Heathcliff, my man!" Fred shouted with zealous gestures.

The others were shocked and curious as to how on earth Fred, of all people, was familiar with an upper class _châtelain _like the man whose name was Heathcliff. Sora looked at him with interest, but Donald and Goofy were exchanging glances of worry and nervousness. They felt awkward in the presence of foreign royalty outside of Mickey Mouse's kingdom, Disney Town.

"Come on, guys," Fred called to the group. "We'll be safe in here."

As the teens, Keybearer, the duck and the dog made their way up the stairs, Hiro caught a glimpse of Fred bumping his left fist with Heathcliff's right hand, reminding him of Tadashi by a meter, but he quickly buried it in the back of his mind. Go Go stared at the servant suspiciously, Honey twiddled her right fingers in a friendly greeting, Wasabi smiled and Sora said, "Hey there." Donald and Goofy were more respectful and the duo tipped their hats in a formidable bow.

Baymax was the last to enter, but Heathcliff's frozen position had caught his eye. He decided to repeat the same process with Hiro by fist bumping the undaunted butler with his right hand and twiddling his fingers.

"Bah-la-la-la!"

This caused Heathcliff's eyelids to rise. Although he was said to be a distant relative of Edwin Jarvis, who served as butler to Tony Stark and the Avengers, he seemed to be unfamiliar with robots, having gone through the relentless conditioning of etiquette school to find work in various households before coming to San Fransokyo. Baymax entered the mansion as Heathcliff closed the door with gentle fingertips.

The interior of the mansion was decorated in the style of King Louis XIV, with red Victorian wallpaper, a grand staircase made of koa wood, a French chandelier, an Edwardian sofa with emerald green leather, a red carpet and an apple green pillow and two oil paintings (a jockey riding on a horse, and a scenic view of the Canadian Rockies) that hung high above the alcove leading to the east wing of the building. Everyone looked in awe at the richness of historical artifacts that were almost a hundred and fifty years old, especially Honey, who was bursting with questions.

"Freddie? _This_ is your home?!"

"Yup."

Even Go Go was flabbergasted by this discovery.

"I thought you lived under the Golden Gate Bridge."

"Why didn't you tell us you had figgity fat pockets?" Wasabi asked.

"I don't like to share my charitable work. I'm like a prince disguised as a pauper."

"Did Tadashi know about this?" Hiro added.

Fred placed his right hand on his heart with a serious face.

"It was our secret. Anyway, this house actually belongs to my parents."

He lifted his right hand at the Auguste Renoir-styled portrait of his younger self at ten years old with a big red tie, navy blue jacket and tan shorts. In the center of the portrait was his father Stan, wearing brown sunglasses, a jazzberry jam ascot, a pink polyester shirt (a common wear of rich males), a sport coat matching Fred's and long grey trousers. His mother, Joan, sat on the right in a red velvet chair. She had ginger colored hair, light purple eyeshadow, a pearl necklace and a plum dress with two golden lilies on her shoulders.

"They're on a vacay on the family island," Fred continued as the "tour group" passed the hallway of greenish-grey wallpaper. "We should totally go sometime, frolic around the sand, surf the waves, you guys know what I mean."

He turned his body counterclockwise and clapped his hands two times. As if on cue, the doors opened automatically. While Fred's face remained locked in a smug mood, others were completely shell-shocked at the sight of the very room that looked modern compared to the remainder of the house…but there was something else that made the area more attractable.

A menagerie of four Kaiju monsters, ten Super Sentai masks, seven superhero costumes, six toy guns, six samurai swords of different shapes, two robots, one starship, two arcade games (_District 51 _and _Motoracing_), a Samsung U9500 105-inch curved Ultra HD television screen, a long white sofa, a small, circular table, a queen sized bed with red and blue pillows and a collection of 700 comic books, manga and video games on three shelves; even more than the total capacity of The Pulp, a local store in the downtown district and Fred's favorite place to shop. It was a virtual museum of comic books, science-fiction and Kaiju all together; the holy trinity of everything a rich kid could want.

"_Eommaya_," Go Go muttered in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Honey gasped at the statue of a cerulean Kaiju monster that looked like a _Triceratops_ with only one horn and webbed fins in-between it's claws. It also had a goofy grin molded in it's mouth and around it's neck was a sign in Fred's handwriting:

"Fred, do not touch! – Fred"

Wasabi's reply was as plain as the stilted expression on his face.

"If I wasn't just attacked by Big Boy Caprice and a guy in a kabuki mask, I think this would be the weirdest thing I've seen today. My brain hates my eyes for seeing this."

His lounge lay in-between his teeth and his head was crooked to the left by four inches. Wasabi was feeling even more weirded out when a detailed Frazetta-style portrait of Fred came into his field of vision. He looked like a strongman, a barbarian to be exact, with bat-wings, a spear in his left hand and riding on the back of an albino saber-toothed tiger against a purple background of five planets.

Hiro couldn't care less about the oddity of Fred's opulent background, he walked over to the rubicund table and sat down on the white cushion stool. He borrowed a midnight-blue pen with gold features and took out a piece of paper with Fred's full signature in gold renaissance lettering at the top, trying to memorize the sparrow symbol he had seen at the pier. Perhaps, it would give him a clue to Yokai and Big Boy's objective.

"Your body temperature is still low," said Baymax looking above his head.

Hiro didn't seem to care.

"Yeah, un-huh."

As he continued drawing the full outline of the sparrow, his back felt an odd mixture of soft vinyl followed by a warm feeling that a person gets when he or she has been exposed to hot liquid, but more like the heat of the sun since it was dry. Baymax was resting his head against Hiro's helmet of dark hair, using his internal system to create a heat wave: a bright yellow glow from his heart that turned orange, then red as it faded into the rest of his body. This heating system was used for treating patients with a cold temperature and could even be used on those who were diagnosed with hyperthermia. Hiro just looked at Baymax for a second before he went back to drawing the symbol. The others had seen this and Fred was the first to throw himself at Baymax's body, letting the heating system dry his clothes and engulf the right half of his face with a relaxing posture.

"It's like spooning a warm marshmallow," he sighed with content.

Honey Lemon was the second person to feel the warmth of Baymax's heating system. She closed her eyes, resting he head against the vinyl and stroking the rubber with her right hand.

"_It's so nice_," she whispered in her Spanish.

Wasabi was the third person to feel Baymax's warming system. He rested his hands against the rubber and laid his head down, muttering in Swahili.

"Oh yeah. _Hii ni mbinguni_."

Go Go was the last, but unlike the others, she yawned and stretched her arms out.

"Good robot," she sighed quietly and the rest of her body slumped down with feet crossed and arms lowered.

Sora, with no room to share placed his right hand on the unoccupied vinyl. It was the only warmth he felt and Donald was jumping up and down with an impatient quack.

"I wanna feel him! Let me feel him too!" he was beginning to act as childish as his nephews.

Sora placed his hands under Donald's webbed feet and lifted him above his shoulders, allowing the duck to feel the warming system with both hands (a little too much one might say). Goofy, the tallest of the group laid his right hand on Baymax's left shoulder for a minute before Hiro interrupted the short nap. His drawing of the sparrow was an almost exact replica of the one had seen based every ounce of his memory he could put into his thinking process.

"Does this symbol mean anything to you guys?"

The four nerds left their resting position. Go Go looked at the drawing with a lazy smile, thinking that Hiro's artistic talents were as brilliant as he was, but Fred snapped out of relaxation, raised his left arm and pointed at the drawing with his index finger, shouting, "YES! It's a bird!"

Sora's blue eyes peered at the unique drawing. It looked to him like something he had seen out of a book called _The Hunger Games._

"But what kind of bird?" he asked Fred.

Goofy looked at Donald.

"Say, Donald. You're a type of bird person. Do you know what that is?" he asked pointing both index fingers at the drawing.

Sora could sense Donald losing his temper and so did Goofy, but the duck sported an angry face on his beak and said calmly, "I'm a duck, why should I know anything about other birds?"

"Yokai, the guy in the mask was carrying something with this symbol on it!" Hiro gestured to the others.

He sat himself up and Baymax's heating system was turned off, restoring the color of his snow-white body.

"Apprehending Big Boy Caprice and the man in the mask," Baymax said to the four nerds. "Will improve Hiro's emotional state."

"Apprehend them?" Go Go was usurped. "Big Boy, Flattop and the others we can take, but the man in the mask, this…Yokai character? We don't even know who he _really_ is."

Fred lifted an exclamatory right index finger.

"I have a theory…of _everything_!"

He dashed to the second bookshelf on the right. One second he was there, the next everyone except Baymax was on the white sofa and Wasabi was looking at an artwork of Lex Luthor in his war suit from _Action Comics_ #544.

"Lex Luthor?" Wasabi asked

"Superman's archenemy and billionaire weapons designer. Uses LexCorp as a front for his criminal operations."

"Wow," Donald cried, wide-eyed at the suit.

In Fred's hands was a clean copy of _Justice League_ Vol 2 #25. He passed it to Hiro, who looked at the page of a rich boy threatening his parents with a gun before shooting them…and his younger brother. For a moment, Hiro imagined himself, his parents and Tadashi as the family…and Tadashi was the one shooting his own family before the butler, who looked little like Heathcliff wearing a bowler hat, came in and shot the already wounded boy dead. The older boy in the neat suit spoke in a taunting, but ultra-dark speech balloon to his dying brother.

"Who am I? I'm Thomas Wayne, Junior. The richest boy in Gotham City."

"Thomas Wayne, Junior?" Hiro repeated to himself. But Fred heard him and spoke like a true comic book nerd as he broke down the entire details of the rich boy named Thomas Wayne, Junior.

"Bruce Wayne's older brother in Earth 3. Sorta like an _**evil**_ version of Batman."

"Sounds like an Unversed if you ask me," Sora added feverishly.

Fred tossed the eleventh issue of _The Demon _from 1973 to Go Go, who was dismayed at the obvious-sounding villain name.

"Baron Von Evilstein…? _Jebal jom uk! _Just get to the point!"

"Don't you guys get it?" Fred cried surprisingly. "Yokai is none other than….Voila!"

He whizzed over to the TV, pressed the "on" button and there, right before their very eyes was an Action 7 News image of Alistair Krei wearing a blue hard hat. Alice was standing behind him on the right side of the screen, looking content like a perfectionist. The scrolling white words on the red banner "Krei Tech CEO Alistair Krei set to open new multi-billion dollar headquarters" spread at the bottom of the screen. Fred moved his right hand on the top and his left at the bottom to express the width of the television set before leaning his head in towards Hiro in a deep, sinister voice.

"Alistair Krei."

"The guy with the big nose?" Goofy asked in stupidity.

"What?" Hiro stood up as if he were in court and was objecting the accusation to the judge.

"Think about it," Fred slithered around Hiro with an expression of distrust and antagonism. "Professor Callaghan said that he had been working with the mafia, he wanted your microbots, you said no and he decides to take Callaghan's _and_ Tadashi's life by blowing up the WHOLE SHOWCASE HALL! Rules don't apply to a man like Krei!"

Hiro stood up to take a closer look at the image. Krei's frozen expression looked so pure and innocent, that there were no signs of greed, destruction or even the tiniest hint of totalitarianism anywhere.

"There's no way he could be Yokai! The guy's too high profile!"

He thought about it for second, then he turned back to the others.

"Do you think Big Boy himself wanted to have Tadashi and Professor Callaghan killed?"

Although Hiro knew that Tadashi had thrown his life away to save his father-figure, the others, who did not witness Tadashi going inside, had a few artistic licenses of their own.

"I don't see why not," Honey frowned. "And If he works for Big Boy, who is he….really?"

"I don't anything else about him," Hiro tossed his comic on the table with defeat.

"Maybe he's an assassin who controls the whole crime family," Sora said with gossip in his voice. "And I think…he's trying to bump off the old gang for his own needs."

"But if Big Boy's men found out about it," said Fred doubtfully. "They would have killed him already."

"His blood type is AB negative," Baymax broke the silence. "Cholesterol levels are-"

"Baymax!" Hiro ran over and gestured his hands to shush the robot before he could break down the entire details of Yokai's internal organs. "You scanned him?!"

"I am programmed to assess everyone's healthcare needs," Baymax explained in a most obvious fashion.

On his chest appeared a screencapture of Yokai, whose body was surrounded by white background and a readout of his blood type and cholesterol levels. Hiro wiggled his hands against the robot's rubber surface with an overjoyed "YES!" and a heartwarming laugh.

"I can use the data from your scan to find him!"

"You'd have to like scan the whole city of San Fransokyo to find him and Big Boy," Go Go said matter-of-factly. "And that would take…forever."

But Hiro knew better, he was using his brother's words to guide him without having to go upside down.

"All I need is to find another angle."

And he found it. On the shelf located to the left of the TV was a twelve inch sculpture of Ultron, a robotic villain who wanted to replace the human race with his own. Hiro grabbed the figure in his left hand and studied it with joyfulness. He was imagining Baymax as a more usual type of robot that did not have a bouncy exterior and it came to his mind that he was (for the second time since his microbots) using his repertoire of bot-fighting for a better advantage.

"I'll scan the whole city at the same time. I just have to upgrade Baymax's sensor."

When he looked up, however, at a glass case containing sixteen inch action figures of The Avengers: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye and Black Widow, Hiro began to realize that if Yokai and Big Boy could have an army, so could he…with the assistance of Sora, Donald, Goofy, Honey, Wasabi, Go Go and Fred in their very own superhero armada.

"Actually, if we're going to catch Yokai and bring Big Boy to justice…I need to upgrade _all_ of you."

Wasabi was flabbergasted.

"Upgrade what now?"

"In Hiro's words," Sora explained. "You've just been drafted into the army. It's sort of tantamount to upgrading."

"Oh, ho, ho, ho, I like where this is heading!" Fred was so excited that he pounded his fists softy on his knees four times over, but while the girls exchanged peculiar glances, Wasabi was horrified.

"We can't go against that guy! We're _nerds_! And Big Boy's a master criminal! His men will have us gunned down the moment we meet them!"

Honey had to agree with Wasabi on a more mature level of reasoning.

"Hiro, we want to help, but we're just… normal."

Hiro stood up on the couch, looking at the Alex Ross drawn portrait of the Avengers with Captain America's sense of patriotism and utter most respect for his country.

"No…you can be way more."

The others stood up as well as Hiro placed his knuckles on his waist, Go Go laid her left hand on Fred's left shoulder, ready to accept her new position.

"Tadashi Hamada was our friend…our leader…our brother to us all. We're in…but only to respect his memory."

Donald and Goofy took Baymax's side as the team stood up at the Avengers portrait, mimicking their poses in a sense of glory, unity, dignity, truth, justice and the Japanese-American way. Hiro was the proudest of them all, fulfilling Tadashi's last wish to have his younger brother use his high level of intelligence for the greater good of the entire world. Fred could only express his excitement on the matter with loud words.

"Do you guys feel that? Our origin story begins! We're gonna be superheroes!"

Sora, the only who did not stand amongst the teens, broke the silence in a comedic fashion.

"But first, you're gonna need some training…and I know just the guy to do it."

He took out his DoCoMo smartphone and dialed the right number.


	10. The Ultimate Spider-Man

Meanwhile, on a desert island not too far from the Bermuda Triangle, five teenagers who were no more than about sixteen going on twenty (if not given a separate age for each member) were relishing in a beautiful vacation amongst a lost paradise of nature, playing tether ball, making sculptures out of sand, reading romance novels by Stephenie Meyer or just swimming about in the azure shaded ocean. Four boys and one female were having the time of their lives, as such teenagers often do, in the environment of antimodernism that could only compare their location with castaways, shipwrecks and feral children. The teens in question were trainees from Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D. for short. They were known specifically as the Amazing Spider-Man, Nova the Human Rocket, White Tiger, Power Man and Iron Fist.

At fifteen years of age, Peter Parker was the quintessential example of a poindexter. Living with his Aunt May and Uncle Benjamin in the Queens neighborhood of New York City, he was a bookworm and a geek, but on the other hand he was a straight A student at Midtown High who was favored by his teachers and cared less by his peers. During Dr. Eric Schwinner's demonstration of harnessing radioactivity, a small _latrodectus mactans, _otherwise known as a black widow spider had inconveniently dropped down right in the middle of the ray. Wounded, it bit Peter's right hand and from that moment on, it had been given him the powers, strength and agility of a spider. The radioactivity and his newly invented web shooters earned him the new alter ego of Spider-Man; Pater tested his new devices and his strength further into a commercial field from a TV show to a boxing competition with wrester Crusher Hogan. If he was able to pin Hogan in three minutes, Peter would win a $100. Eventually he was successful.

Everything was going fine for Peter. He was thinking of re-upping for another show when two weeks later, somebody shot his Uncle Ben in the chest twice with a .45 magnum. The burglar, Dennis Carradine, was caught red-handed in a deserted warehouse, so Peter took matters into his own hands and soon gained a selfless experience, knowing that with great power there must also come a great responsibility. During his spare time as Peter Parker, he became a freelance photographer for the _Daily Bugle_, ran by the notorious John Jonah Jameson, who perceived vigilantes like Spider-Man as a threat towards a peaceful society and even ranted about the subject to the public and to himself. His second best girlfriend May Jane Watson, was also aiming for a job as a journalist at the _Bugle _to be closer to Peter. All the same, he had been hired by Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. to become the Ultimate Spider-Man and lead a quartet of trainees (or rookies) into the war against evil and protecting the innocent.

Samuel Alexander lived in Carefree, Arizona. Born and bred to a Hispanic family, consisting of his father Jesse, mother Eve and younger sister Kaelynn, he too led a normal life…until the exact day his father went missing. During his search on his skateboard, he tripped on a pebble, his forehead, woke up in the emergency room where he met Rocket Raccon and the assassin Gamora and was trained by the duo to become a full-fledged member of the Nova Corps just like his father. Nick Fury had caught wind of this and he successfully attempted to train Sam for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Sam agreed on the condition he'd search for his dad right after a year of service. As a transfer student at Midtown High, he was very cocky to his peers and at times, a bit of an annoyance…especially to Peter, but not to his own family.

Ava Ayla came from a long line of White Tigers. Her father was a White Tiger, her brothers Hector and Fillipo were White Tigers and even her mother was a White Tiger until the day she died. Inheriting Hector's amulet, Ava moved to Avengers Academy before going on to New York as a trainee for S.H.I.E.L.D.. With black hair, chocolate brown skin and sixteen years of age, she was extremely disciplined. When first meeting Spider-Man, she was dissatisfied with his abilities and semi-humorous attitude. But after attending Midtown High, she would always lend a hand (or in her alter-ego's case "paw") or two in assisting Peter and his teammates.

Luke Cage was muscular African American whose identity as Power Man was masked by his sunglasses. He was raised in Harlem, and spent much of his youth in a gang called "the Rivals", committing petty thefts with his best friend Willis Stryker. Realizing that his actions were deeply effecting his generous and doting parents, James and Esther, Luke repented his sons by remaining at the presence of his mother and father, who were later appointed S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists. They based their research on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, hoping to use their son as the test subject of a new variant of the Super-Soldier Serum, which could enhance a person's strength. On the eve of the test on a research plane, a "leak in the department" altered the terrorist organization Zodiac, they attacked the plane and James and Esther's research survived into their son. As he fell from being pushed into the ocean, his boy's strength increased and while he splashed into the water, Esther and James were taken hostage and their plane had crashed into the ocean as well. Remorseful, Luke returned to New York to complete his education at Midtown High, where he was enlisted by Nick Fury to join the S.H.I.E.L.D. Training Program.

Daniel "Danny" Rand was a smart blond haired kid from a wealthy family, whose father Wendell was CEO of Rand Corporation, a multi-media company of technology, construction and product manufacturing. When he was seven years old, he began to see that his whole life was laid out for him: A procession of social events, gatherings, meetings, phone calls and financial negotiations. As he grew older, Danny began to see how narrow-minded his parent's friends were, including some of his own with their Donald Trump-esque dignity. He knew that he could be so much more than just the average businessman-someone who could have a balance between rich and poor with a sense of pity and sympathy for those less fortunate than himself. To his luck, Wendell was skilled in martial arts, having learned it from the ancient Chinese city of K'un-Lun. Danny took his father's footsteps for his own good and became Iron First with only one final test to prove his worthiness: a battle with the dragon Shou-Lao in order to absorb a little of his power. Once that power was absorbed, Iron Fist was officially born. Although he was destined to rule K'un-Lun, Danny had to complete his education as a human being of the outside world, voicing his opinions through on-the-spot proverbs to anyone with a problem of sorts. His connections in the Rand Corporation went through to S.H.I.E.L.D. and he was allowed to take part in the training program with Spider-Man, whom he saw only as a worthy ally for his skills of wild melee attacks.

It all started on a cold day in August (literally) when Sam used the S.H.I.E.L.D. database to relocate the team to an island one hour and thirteen minutes away from Queens. Peter had slept in and the team came over to pick him up (once he was dressed in his Spider-Man suit) for a winter training course in the Catskill Mountains because school was closed. But Sam, tired of the inexorable acclimatizing that was forcing him to delay the search for his father, thought of a better idea: they were going to play hooky against Agent Phil Coulson's video briefing on their watch phones, telling them to report to S.H.I.E.L.D. Station I.C.E. for snow camping, avalanche preparedness, blizzard trekking, ice water scuba diving and other mandatory winter related activities. Coulson also informed the young heroes that their transport, a quinjet, was waiting for them outside John F. Kennedy International Airport before the video ended.

So after Sam explained his idea in less thorough detail, Spider-Man and his amazing friends packed their beach essentials, drove to the airport via taxi and made their way to the runway where the quinjet was sitting in the cold temperature. Once inside, Sam found the island, redirected the coordinates and took off for the new destination-right under Nick Fury and Coulson's noses. The passenger compartment of the quinjet was big enough to give the five high schoolers enough room to undress into their swimsuits, with Peter taking his time in a private, yet much smaller compartment that also served as the restroom. The other boys had their eyes closed (the quinjet was on autopilot), when Ava stripped down to change into her swimsuit: a pink bikini and shorts, a white boho maxi skirt and a light pink Hawaiian hibiscus flower attached to the right side of her 5'5" long brown hair.

"We're gonna get in trouble, that's all I'm saying," she said when they arrived. "But at least we'll be warm."

Danny took his turn to change in the restroom, leaving Sam and Luke to change into their own swimsuits and sunglasses, away from Peter and Ava's misdirected eyes for privacy. The two males exchanged embarrassed smiles when they were completely undressed.

After three quarters of three minutes, when Luke and Sam were already prepared, the quinjet made a soft landing on the sandy beach that could be seen for over half a mile in length.

"I have found paradise," said Danny, taking in the ocean breeze. His swimming trunks were an olive green color with black sunglasses and he wore a yin and yang necklace held by black string.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" shouted Luke, observing the view. The rims of his sunglasses were light blue and his swimming trunks were pale red. Underneath his left arm was a royal blue beach chair.

"Awesome!" cried Sam and took a nosedive into the sand. His swimming trunks were cyan with PRU blue rims for his sunglasses and he too was carrying a beach chair, but under his right hand. He also wore sandals like the other three boys and had a brown string necklace held by a stainless steel clip.

"Welcome to paradise," Peter thought quietly. His swimming trunks were a dark imperial blue color with grey rimmed sunglasses. He was the first to lead the team out of the ship as he carried a towel around his arms.

About a minute later, Danny was sitting on a leaned coconut tree with his legs pulled up to his chest for a slightly higher view while the others stayed on the ground. Ava was sitting her chair, Luke stood by the tree with Sam resting his left hand on the bark of the tree. Peter sat on the sand, his legs crisscrossed, staring at the soft particles of sand, the very same sand that had been used to create glass and pearls.

"How did you guys find this place?" asked Luke.

"This was all Sam's," Peter replied. "Just before we took off, he found something in the database."

Sam smirked.

"It was filed under 'classy'," he finished.

The others looked at Sam as if they had swallowed a lemon. Sam himself, exchanged an expression of oddity.

"What?"

"You mean 'classified'?" Ava snarled.

"If Coulson squawks, I'll tell him I accidently entered the wrong coordinates."

"Do the math," Peter explained, drawing an "SD" in the sand. It was followed by a plus sign and a symbol of the sun.

"Snow day plus tropical island is greater than or equal to the wrath of Coulson."

But Sam neither cared nor heard any of his mathematical nonsense, all he wanted was a swim in the shimmering ocean. With a loud whoop, he held his hands to his knees and cannonballed into the water with a hard splash. The drops flew on for six meters and fell back into the ocean for a very quick sun shower with no clouds in the sky.

"Come on in, guys," Sam shouted after them.

The teens removed their sunglasses and ran after Sam into the relaxing warmth of the salt water. The water was as warm as the sand, if not less cooler, and they might have been swimming in a shark infested pool, but there were no sharks for miles around, and it was safe to say that there was no disturbance other than the breeze of the wind, rushing through the bushes in a faint sound of a child's laughter.

Peter was half a mile away from the beach when he thought to have heard the laughter. Just before his spider-senses could warn him of any imminent danger, he turned around and saw nothing but the island. The tinge of a shadow was likely to have been a sign that the teens were not alone.

"its paradise," Peter shrugged. "What could possibly go wrong?"

And they continued to play in their own private pool, splashing Peter with two scoopfuls of water, soaking his hair. They pranced around and horseplayed in the water for another hour before settling back on the sand for another set of activities. Danny stretched his arms into the open air, letting his arms dry from the water that soaked his body with a sigh of deep mediation. The very same meditation he had constantly done on mornings and evenings as part of his Iron Fist alter-ego.

"Ah, there is no beauty like that of unspoiled nature."

His eyes were closed as he said this. K'un-Lun was full of people who respected the environment and were almost afraid to leave their home. The outside world as they had called it, was too risky and felt that the inhabitants of another country (or planet) would not be accustomed to their ways unless if necessary for educational reasons.

After a split second, Danny lowered his arms and asked his fellow peers:

"Why would a place like this be in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database?"

"I bet it's Fury's super-spy secret hideaway," Sam answered as he used his father's Black Nova helmet as a sand bucket. "What do you suppose he does here?"

_I'll give you one guess. _Peter could only imagine several agents, including Fury and Coulson having a nighttime luau in their finest traditional island attire. Even the Avengers were there. Black Widow having a strip tease for the men, Captain America throwing his shield only be intercepted by an arrow from Hawkeye, Tony Stark doing the cha-cha with Thor and Maria Hill and Bruce Banner doing the limbo rock, only to transform into the Incredible Hulk, upset with his loss of not going under the bar because his chest had kicked it up.

"Let's not ask questions we don't want answers to," snapped Peter in a morbid mood. "Just enjoy."

For the next three hours, the team of trainees played around the beach doing own little activity, like Sam creating a sand sculpture of his helmet while Danny made squiggles around the helmet with a branch stick he had gotten from near the bushes and it had already been broken from a strong force of nature. Peter found Ava sitting on her chair reading what looked like a math book borrowed from the school. Curious, he released the book from Ava's hands.

"Hey, that's my math homework!" she protested.

Peter looked deep into the contents of the book and saw that the hints of sexual innuendo was nothing to do with math (aside from how many times a person can have sex). He removed the dust jacket with his right fingers, slowly at first then with a quick flash, as it was exposed that the book Ava had been reading was _Thundering Hearts, _a heavy novel from Coulson's collection of literature based around the Avengers and their own personal lives.

Now that she had been caught reading a "chick-flick", Ava giggled with a soft deportment. She continued to read the 200th page to herself.

Luke had his arms open, shouting, "Over here!"

Peter took three steps back holding a football in his right hand.

"Go long!" he shouted.

And he threw the ball like a javelin. Luke ran over catch it, landed perfectly in his hands and the strength of the ball forced him down into sand-right onto the mouth of Sam's Nova helmet sculpture.

"My bad," Luke chuckled nervously.

Sam glared at him.

"That was for my dad!" he shrilled, clutching the black helmet. "And this is for me."

And he dumped an entire payload of sand onto the dark hair of Luke. Luke himself, was glad that none of it got into his eyes.

"It isn't wrong," murmured Danny to his peers, "but we play at the right place and the right time…which we are, but _not_ in this case."

He gestured his right hand to the sculpture, noting the damage done. Peter felt a tingle from his spider-sense that coursed through his cerebrum and out of his cranium.

"TIME OUT!" he shouted. "Who's trying to mess up our fun?"

Sam and Ava walked over to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"My spider-sense is tingling."

It was one of Peter's most oft-quoted catchphrases.

"I think you're just guilt tripping over ditching Coulson," Sam remarked in a kind manner.

He nudged his left elbow romantically at Ava's right shoulder. The color of their skin was startling.

"How about a butt-whoopin' to get you over it?"

Sam's eyes were on Ava's shoulders, but his voice was aimed directly at Peter and he presented a volleyball from behind his back (which he had gotten out of the quinjet three minutes ago). He tossed it over to Peter, who caught it almost immediately.

"You're on," said Peter with narrowed eyes.

Five minutes later, a game of volleyball was set up. Peter, having bought his webshooters in the event of an emergency, formed a net connected by two palm trees. Ava acted as the impromptu coach with only rule in mind:

"Okay rules of the game, no one uses their powers."

Sam stood opposite to Peter on the other side of the net, he held the ball with tight fingers in his left hand and jumped four feet into the air, throwing it. Peter thrusted his body to the floor face first with open hands, aiming to catch the ball. However, he was able to succeed in bouncing the ball upwards towards a charging Ava, who somersaulted high into the palm tree, kicked away from it with her ballerina feet and struck a hard shot at it. The ball flew right into Sam's nose, jerking a full expose to the left side of his face, any harder and he would have gotten a nosebleed.

"What happened to 'no powers'?" he asked offensively.

"I said 'no powers', not 'no skills'," Ava confessed.

The next match was Danny on the right and Peter still on the left. Danny held the ball precariously in his right hand as if it were the egg of an extinct animal, ready to re-introduce the world to a long forgotten species.

"A thing can only be that which it is," Danny muttered in consolation.

Without warning, he jumped five feet into the air and kicked the ball with his right foot. Carefully concentrating, Peter locked his hands together just as the ball made contact with his hands and he threw it so high, you could barely tell where it was-until it landed behind a fortress of bushes.

"Great," said Ava with dismay. "It rolled into the jungle."

Peter walked over to get it without even announcing his volunteer.

"Hold onto your helmet, Sam," he said, pointing two of his right fingers at the Hispanic-American. "The next spike has your name on it."

Sam felt dismayed.

Peter walked into the dark green arena of vines and creepers. He was nervous at every step of the way and a rumbling was heard, but it was not his stomach from a lack of nutritious food. A strong gale blew through the trees and nearly tore the greenery out of their stems. He looked behind, almost certain that someone had been watching him when he heard the sound of a screech. There were no signs of life anywhere except for a few insects that were too small to see.

"This isn't creepy at all," Peter confirmed, placing his right hand on his heart for courage. "Good thing I'm not the nervous type."

But as the words escaped from his mouth, large gusts of wind came rushing into the forest, blowing the follicles in his hair and nearly blowing the trees and bushes out of their roots. Peter felt as if he were in an earthquake. The awful din lasted for another second…and it stopped-followed by the ringing of a cell phone that had been in Peter's right swimsuit pocket only _after_ he had gone swimming in case S.H.I.E.L.D. called (even if he did, the phone was a water proof Samsung).

Nervous and fearing that he had been caught, Peter slowly removed the phone from the pocket and pressed the green call button. He didn't even notice the name of the person calling until it was too late.

"Hello?" he spoke in a soft, quiet voice, expecting a loud blare from Coulson or Fury. But instead…

"Peter?" the voice belonged to Sora.

Four months ago, Sora, Donald and Goofy had visited Midtown High on an exploitation tour where they met Spider-Man (as Peter) and helped him against an attack on the school by three members of the Frightful Four: Klaw, Wizard and Thundra, who were searching for Spider-Man and they threatened to destroy the entire facility if he did not show up with everyone inside. They had been tipped off by their fourth member Trapster, who had placed a tracer under Spidey's right arm from a previous battle, to which he had been captured. As a reward for their efforts, Spider-Man revealed his identity to the trio (in a secluded locker room) and thanked them for a "special performance".

Anyways, Peter did have the chance to tell Sora about his new "team", considering they had left a day after the incident and he did not know how to respond after not seeing each other for four months.

"Sora? I-It's been a while," Peter was surprised by this unexpected call, even less when he had given Sora his phone number prior to the departure, thinking that Sora would need his services again for some other day.

"Where are you, Peter?" asked Sora, pushing his right ear into the phone. "It sounds windy out there and it doesn't sound anything compared to the wind in New York."

"The guys and I are on an island Sam found in the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. It's snowing in New York and Coulson told us to meet him at some 'I.C.E.' base, but we decided to have our own little vacation."

Sora, holding a little naughtiness in his veins, nodded away from Peter's eyesight and asked him in a very temptations manner. He didn't even bother to ask Peter "who is we?" out of curiosity.

"How would you like to spend the rest of your vacation here with me in San Fransokyo? I'm sure the guys at S.H.I.E.L.D. won't mind looking for you there."

"As in right now?" Peter was unsure. "My friends and I just got here."

"Well then, how about tomorrow morning? You might hate me for saying this, but I want you to train some new superheroes from a tech college about the proper use of super powers and agility."

Parker's eyes narrowed. Training a group of college age superheroes was just about as tantamount as being a part of one.

"Come again?" Peter asked incisively.

"San Fransokyo is in jeopardy against an army of Mafioso and we could certainly use your help. With all our combines forces, we might be able to stop them from making some type of invention that could…I don't know-bring an apocalypse to the entire city?!"

"How cliché."

"But this is a real-life cliché."

"I don't know, Sora. I've already got enough on my hands to last me a whole day."

"Then why don't you come to the city tomorrow morning? You'll have fun for the rest of the day and tomorrow you can check into a hotel under your real name. I hope you can accomplish this, Peter…you're the only one I can trust into doing a good job with rookies."

"How many of these new superheroes are there?"

"Six."

"That makes eleven…but I'll see what I can do."

Peter hung up, thinking about his decision as he placed the phone back into the pocket. San Fransokyo was on the other side of the country, and if they were to leave now, they would get there by sundown. Placing his right fingers on his chin, he wondered if these new superhero wannabes had any potential of understanding great power and great responsibility. He thought for two minutes and just when he was about to think it over for another five, his decision had been made. He looked back at the light at the edge of the jungle, remembering frightening noises and unknown disturbances that caused his spider-sense to tingle. The ball he had been searching for was six feet away from him under a large overgrown leaf. Peter picked it up and made his way back to the beach where he saw his friends-looking anxious and waiting impatiently for the ball.

"I just got a call," Peter spoke after six seconds of silence. "It's from Sora."

Ava shook her head with a sign of unfamiliarity. On the other hand, she was relieved that they did not get a call from Fury or Coulson.

"Who's Sora?" she asked.

"Didn't I tell you before?" Peter widened his arms.

"The guy with the spiky head?" Sam asked with gesturing index fingers.

"That's the guy," Peter nodded. "He says we should move our vacation spot to San Fransokyo. At least we'll be a lot far from Coulson than here."

Then something came from the bottom of Luke's toes just as he was about to reply, not belonging to a crab, but a discomforting pile sand that seemed to have a mind of its own. Looking down, he announced his reply as he struggled to remove his feet.

"I think you're right, bro. I don't what the hell is up with this sand."

At last, Luke removed his feet and Sam made an unenthusiastic yawn.

"All this fun has made me beat," Sam looked to his friends. "I need a nap…at home?"

"We can't risk facing Fury about this place," snapped Ava.

"He'll find out anyway," Danny replied like there was no tomorrow.

The rest of the young superheroes agreed in his case and Sam slumped his shoulders so low, that they could have fallen off and lay in the sand to rest with no life to live.

"Sora did say we could stay until tomorrow morning, but if this is the case, I think now would definitely be a good time."

Peter said this with absolute certainty, but it seemed that his friends had overstayed their welcome and were thinking of spending the rest of their fun filled day in a crowded place.

"Ok, let's go," Sam admitted with defeat.

So the teens packed their essentials back into the quinjet, about to take off…but Peter's spider-sense reckoned without a rolling pile of sand creeping towards the bay door. Like a gopher tunneling through a mole hill, whatever was under the sand found its way under the bay door of the jet and formed an arm…all by itself. Almost in an animated-like fashion, the sand leapt into the jet, pounding the steel floor with a quiet ambience of piling sand drowned out by the crashing waves of the ocean and found a pill shaped capsule made of glass used for capturing specimens.

None of the quinjet's passengers ever saw the sand unlocking the capsule with a solidified hand and quietly entering it as the aircraft took off into the sky.


	11. Heroes in Training

In the following morning, Detective Tracy spoke with Officer Gerson about Hiro's report at the Bayview Police Station, simply telling him that he had been curious. Gerson remained on his own counsel that Hiro's story was nothing more than a tall tale, but immediately Tracy grappled his right hand and he was whisked away to Chief Brandon's office to discuss the matter over breakfast. Catchem, Patton and Lizz were already there informing the chief about the speeders and a "black mass" they had spotted and failed to chase last night.

"We also got a call from someone about a van falling into the bay and several gunshots being fired at them," Catchem explained. "Sure enough, we found it in the water near Pier 30 along with some junk that looked like armor pads."

"Did you know who the van belonged to?" the chief asked with locked fingers.

"The caller's name is Damion No-Ginger," said Patton. "He also claims to be the owner of the car."

"Is he?"

"Yes."

"Do we at least know how it got there?" The chief was getting serious.

"According to Mr. No-Ginger," Lizz announced. "They were trying to get away from a man in a Kabuki mask. He also says the man was in league with an army of criminals led by Big Boy Caprice."

"Another tall tale if you ask me," Gerson was slumped in a chair, listening to the conversation with no other concern.

"You don't think Big Boy's trying to revive the Apparatus?" Tracy asked in concern.

"That is something we can look into," the chief replied blandly. "But we can't arrest Big Boy or anyone who works for him just yet, we need more evidence."

"That's what I said to Hiro," Tracy spoke quietly.

"Have you heard anything from him since?"

"No, but God knows what he's up to. For all I care he must have sucked in some of those fumes from the fire last month and it deteriorated his brain."

Before Gerson could answer out of his _own _curiosity, Tracy turned on his boots and left the office, avoiding a strict reprimand from the chief for a minor discrimination. He went downstairs and found Junior waiting for him by the desk.

"Is it 'Take Your Son to Work Day' already or are you just here to see me work?"

"Tess is still in the car," Junior said suddenly. "She wanted me to tell you if you'll be joining us for lunch Subways. They've got a three dollar sandwich there."

"Any coupons?"

"Yup."

Tracy pinched his chin with his right thumb and index fingers, wondering for a single minute. As far as he was concerned about these reports, he shook them out of his head for the meantime and smiled at Junior. They walked hand in hand out of the building to Tess's car and looked for the nearest Subway, which was located on 125 Ellis Street. After a hearty BMT sandwich, Tracy confessed that he had to work the late shift, and therefore would not be home for dinner.

"Junior and I will go out then," Tess agreed. "I still have a few bucks saved over from my check last week."

"Will it last you the whole week?" Tracy asked.

"Up until Saturday."

Tracy handed her a $50 dollar bill with his right. His wife's reaction was a mixture of generosity and stupefaction.

"For next Saturday," he told her.

He walked out of the restaurant and he strolled down the street without a squad car, thinking that a good needed exercise was something he needed for his brain and not his physical build. Once the Subways was out of sight, he wondered if the supposed car chase had any connection with Hiro's report about the microbots and the man in the Kabuki mask. He stopped at a streetlight, came to his conclusion and eventually said to himself.

_Pure randomness._

The quinjet carrying Peter, Sam, Ava, Danny and Luke crossed the time zone and landed on Baker Beach at 5:15 AM. It was cold and damp with a fog that seemed to dissipate upon sunrise. The teens waited in the jet, falling asleep for the next three hours as they did. When they awoke, it was 8:17; the extra minutes having been spent on dressing into their civilian clothes as they all did it at once.

Peter wore blue, or least the color attributed to his white shirt underneath either a light blue button-down shirt, with blue pants and black sneakers. His brown hair shined in the sun and bleached the pigment by a small amount of the light emitting from it.

Sam wore a light blue sweater with a white long-sleeved shirt and grey trousers to go with his dark hair and blue eyes.

Danny's blond hair contrasted with his tan trousers, a navy blue shirt and a brown jacket tied around his waist, brown sandals and a metal grey necklace with black string.

The bangs of Ava's hair were split on the sides of her outfit, which consisted of a green tunic with a light purple long sleeved shirt underneath, a black- brown sash belt around her waist and strapped black high heels.

Looking as if he was going to the gym, Luke wore a beige hoodie with sleeves curled to his elbows, a black shirt underneath and light blue pants with sensible shoes. His sunglasses used to protect his brown eyes (and his identity) remained hidden in his right pants pocket.

The five teens looked around with awe and Ava was star-struck at the sight of the Golden Gate Bridge standing above the fog from the west direction. Sam sniffed the air, knowing he was close to home (about one state away from Arizona to be exact). Danny scooped a right handful of sand and clutched it tightly, curiously comparing the material with that of the sand from the beach they had gone to almost one day ago. Luke wanted to go for another swim, but Peter, always the headstrong member of the group, was tediously walking towards the stone staircase leading up a sandy path, which led to Presidio and from there they would call Sora and ask him for his whereabouts. Walking the path, in Peter's own mind, would save the group a little bit of time to wait for a taxi, as he always took a few precautions to save his money.

When they got to the road, Peter tried his cell phone and the first response he got was a simple "Yes?" from Sora.

"Where are you?" asked Peter.

"I should be at a mansion on 1000 California Street."

Peter kept the address memorized in his head as he and Sora continued conversing.

"Who will these guys look like?"

"Well, one of them is just like you: smart, inventive and sees himself as an outcast from society."

"Around my age?"

"I'd say about two years younger."

"I'm fine with that."

A minute after the call, a taxi came from up the road and Sam lifted up his right thumb in the most aggressive manner of a hitchhiker, hoping to slow the taxi down. The cabbie was a tough guy who looked like he hadn't slept in a week, but kept a strong posture in the way he carried himself in the most archetypical cab driver outfit you had ever seen. Peter knew that only half of these drivers wore the same type of newsboy cap and brown clothes that looked straight out of the Great Depression: there were traditionalists in New York as well, and even a few of them hailed from San Fransokyo as well.

The driver did see them and he pulled over asking, "You all hitchikin'?"

"I just did it to pull you over," Sam explained, lowering his thumb.

"Next time," the cabbie said thoughtfully. "Just shout 'taxi'. I mean, everybody does it, right?"

"Yes," Peter nodded. "Could you take us to 1000 California Street please?"

The cabbie seemed to know the residents of the neighborhood like the back of his head.

"Any rich friends or relatives?" he asked.

"Friends," Peter stated.

Ava went first in the back seat followed by Danny and Luke, Peter took the passenger seat while Sam, unfortunately with no room available, placed himself in-between Luke and Danny without a word. He made sure that the cabbie wasn't looking, otherwise he'd be walking the whole way to California Street.

As they drove, Sam complained about the cramped space, among other things like Dad, his family, school life, searching for his father and the Chitauri.

"It's like the whole galaxy has gone into an intergalactic hell hole!" he cried to his friends.

"Or a black hole," Luke added in his own knowledge of outer space.

Peter turned right around in his seat and glared at Sam and Luke, reprimanding, "Black holes are more than hell holes, they're 'destruction holes'."

"I know that," said Luke. "I was just trying to mess with him."

Ava sniggered. Nothing seemed to go right with her male peers.

Unknown to the rest of the team, the living pile of sand who had stowed away in the capsule, opened the unlocked lid and crawled out of it like a flexible centipede made out of grain. The steady stream of sand was soon camouflaged against the beach, but only as a mold…and suddenly, it began to form. At first it was rudimentary, then it became an indistinct, generic figure with no features, but if one were to look closely, they would begin to see the feature taking shape into a full, living and breathing human being. The figure had turned into a man with short chocolate brown hair, a green striped t-shirt, pale tan jeans and light brown shoes. His name: Flint Marko.

Marko (known to the authorities by his real name William Baker) was a small-time criminal who loved going to the beach during his childhood years. With an alcoholic mother and a Mr. Baker unwilling to accept the responsibility of being a father, Flint had an impoverished life that led him to steal and commit petty felons just so he could buy a few sticks of bread, candy and vegetables. As a teenager, he became a school bully with a crush for his teacher Miss Flint, who felt that the young William was too young for her and settled down with a man of her own age. Determined to make a living, he became quarterback for the school's football team and violently assaulted his coach after he found out that the games were thrown by the mob.

After a variety of other troubles, including his girlfriend Marcy having an affair with his best friend Vic, William changed his name to Flint Marko, for he was ashamed of his former self and wanted to use this identity to reboot his entire life from the ground up. Breaking out of prison, for which he had gotten into after assaulting Vic, Marko went on the run and found himself trapped in a radiation field that turned every bone, vein and feature in his body into a malleable variation of sand. S.H.I.E.L.D. eventually found out and had Marko captured and taken to a desert island where they hoped he would cause no harm and die of malnutrition, given that water was his weakness and therefore the ocean would prevent him from leaving. But Marko had grown accustomed to the sandy beach for three long years and his chance to escape finally came when the rookies went on their vacation.

Now, standing on a familiar setting, but in a civilized world, Marko now had his chance to exact revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D. for his imprisonment and he would start with the rookies he had stowed away with. It had been obvious to Marko that they were working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and using them as hostages would convince Fury to allow Marko his freedom-or so he thought.

"Freedom at last…but where to start?" thought Sandman as he panned his eyes at the gleaming ocean. But unlike his prison, which was wide and vast, the San Fransokyo Bay was partially blocked by Point Bonita and the Golden Gate Bridge. This, in a way, somewhat satisfied Marko, taking in his new surroundings as a much needed vacation away from his island prison.

He backed carefully away from the solidified section of the beach that was drenched by water. A true hydrophobic in his prime trying to get a clear distance from the water that would supposedly kill him. Turning his body forwards, he raced up the trail and walked casually down the road. He didn't care for any of the cars that came past him, all he wanted was no attention…at least until the time was right.

The escape from the Apparatus had been a long night for Hiro. By the time he got home, Aunt Cass was already sleeping like a log in her bedroom. The next morning, so as not to give her a heart attack, his account of what happened last night remained silent. He was a having a nice dish of ham and eggs for breakfast when Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the SFIT quartet came to the house and rang the doorbell. Cass went over to answer it.

"And what do I owe this lovely visit?" she asked politely.

"May we take Hiro out for the day?" Honey probed in return. "We'd like to do some new experiments for the school, maybe he'll come up with a new invention for next year's showcase."

Cass turned and bit her lip at the dreaded event that took her oldest nephew away from her, but she kept a face of upmost positivity, chasing away the lugubrious tragedy from her mind as she kindly set herself aside to let the group in.

"Ready, Hiro?" questioned Go Go to the hungry genius.

Hiro swallowed the last piece of ham and made his way to the door. Already dressed in his hoodie, he hugged Aunt Cass from behind and slipped away into the circle of his friends, smiling as he shut the door. Cass felt relieved; she was certain that Hiro was finally getting his mind off of Tadashi after two days in a row.

Inside the garage, Sora, Donald and Goofy watched Hiro retrieve his scanner and stood by his side as he placed Baymax and the nerd quartet against the garage door with stretched arms. As before, the green ray covered them from head to toe and came in form of a grid on Hiro's 3D printing computer. Then, about four minutes later, Hiro ran a 3D model of Yokai's mask and the microbot headband, connecting it with the back of the mask.

"We'll never catch Yokai unless we take out the microbots, so we need to level the playing field." he instructed the group. "The neurotransmitter must be in his mask, if we get the mask and destroy it, he'll lose control of the bots."

Fred raised his left hand like he was in a proper classroom at the Tech.

"What about Big Boy and the other guys?"

Hiro ran through nine pictures of the arsenal used by the Apparatus on the monitor, from the Thompson gun to the CZ 27, identifying as many of the firearms as he had seen during his two encounters.

"Big Boy and his men are likely to be armed, so we're going to need bullet-proof protection, like a super suit or some kind of body armor."

"Like Baymax's?" asked Go Go, remembering the so-called "carbon fiber underpants".

"Exactly like Baymax's," Hiro snapped his right fingers.

"Is there any way we can override the microbots?" asked Sora, displaying his own intelligence for electronics. "Like…build another headset or something?"

"I don't think we have time for that," Hiro said cautiously. "We don't know when Big Boy and Yokai are going to commit the final stage of their plan. So we gotta act fast."

Everyone else agreed, and Sora thought it would be best to discuss the further details of their "project" at the Lee Mansion, where he was expecting Peter and the rookies to be waiting for them.

"A lot of superhero knowledge is in his library," he said patting Fred on the back with his right hand. "And I'll bet he even has an encyclopedia large enough to know the majority of being a hero."

Fred smiled at Sora. His reply was as proud as a lion.

"That I do, Sora-have you been reading my mind?"

"It was just an accurate guess."

So Hiro and his _tomodachi_ took the trolley back to the Lee Mansion where Heathcliff had been standing as before by the door. Once inside, the butler informed the party of nine "We seem to have extra guests," and took them to Fred's small museum of a bedroom. To Sora's surprise, Peter, Ava, Sam, Danny and Luke were all sitting on the white couch, wondering who the new heroes were.

"I'm fifteen years old and I'm already _too old_ for training more rookies," said Peter as the group walked closer to the room.

"I just hope they're not losers," Ava glowered. "I have had enough of those back in Midtown High."

"One's of them has got to be the expert on being a superhero," Sam smiled. "And it's not you, Danny."

Danny remained unperturbed at the off-handed insult.

"For your information, I faced the great Shou Lao and even I had my doubts on taking the role of Iron Fist."

"While we're waiting," Luke said calmly. "I think we should make a good impression with these guys. One of them might even be like me."

"Another Afro with a heavy build?"

Luke turned his head left and right. He was certain that the voice did not come from any of his friends, but from an outside party. Rotating himself, he saw the very person standing by the doorway, Wasabi.

"Did you say that bro?" Luke squinted with absolute certainty.

"Uh…yes?" Wasabi felt like he had made a politically incorrect statement. "I'd thought we'd look similar, 'cept I've got dreadlocks and you don't."

"Well anyway," Luke shook out his right hand. "I'm Luke. Luke Cage."

Wasabi returned the favor with his left hand.

"Damion No-Ginger. My friends call me Wasabi."

"Like the sauce?" Luke was looking puzzled. "Probably explains the green shirt."

Wasabi took a glance at his favorite shirt and blushed.

The others introduced themselves as well and Peter had the pleasure making an acquaintance with Hiro, whom he later learned was also a genius living with his aunt in a large metropolis.

"Well, Hiro," he said after shaking hands. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine won't we?"

"Yes," Hiro replied before his tone went serious. "But now we have to find the guy who stole my microbots. He killed my brother as well."

"Did your brother have something to do with it?" asked Peter, his smile fading.

"He only helped me with the construction."

"Was it a hit job?"

"No. He went to save Professor Callaghan from a fire."

"Well that was unnecessary."

"You bet it was," Hiro was growing sensitive about the subject.

"What difference does it make?" Peter asked, remembering his own experience with his uncle's death. "At least you're trying to find the guy aren't you?"

At last, Hiro couldn't take much more of it. He felt like he was speaking to a teenager subjected to a generic developmental disorder that made him act like a child. Growing frustrated in his plot to avenge Tadashi with murder and bloodshed on his mind, he shouted loudly.

"THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO FIND OUT! WE'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF HE KILLED MY BROTHER AND WHY AND WITH WHAT OTHER THAN THE STINKIN' FLAMES OF HELL!"

Baymax laid a comforting right hand on Hiro's left shoulder and said to him calmly.

"Hiro, there is no need to shout, your vocal cords will strain-"

Hiro turned his head at Baymax and while in his current display of emotions, yelled at him (in an ironic fashion).

"I'M NOT SHOUTING!"

Realizing the irony of his words, he lowered the volume of his voice, pathetically confessing.

"Okay, I was."

The boy took a deep breath and looked at new friends, whose reactions to his outburst were those of dumbstruck gapes. Hiro turned back to face Peter with another idea on his mind.

"Why don't we talk about this somewhere else?"

"And where might that be?" asked Peter.

"In the hall."

Before he knew it, Hiro took Peter's right hand like a young child dragging his father one place to the next and stormed out of the room to hall where they sat down on the green sofa located on the left side of the staircase.

"Did I upset you?" inquired Peter.

Hiro took a slow breath and looked straight into Peter's eyes. They were the same shade of hazel as his own. Even though he had only known Peter for at least five minutes, the color seemed evident enough that Peter could be as trustworthy as all the people he had ever known in his entire life.

"No," Hiro spoke at last. "But if you want to know my life story before asking anymore questions, I'll tell you, but it's gonna be a long one."

"You could always shorten it," Peter quipped a smile and so did Hiro before he resumed.

"Well, it all started on my fourth birthday; Mom and Dad got in a car accident and we had to live with Aunt Cass. So they sold our house and told me and Tadashi that it was for the best of us."

"Kinda like my parents," Peter confessed in a sad voice.

He looked away from Hiro, preventing him from seeing the tears of a grown man.

"They left me with Uncle Ben and Aunt May when I was five, they got into a plane crash while they were in Algeria and the cops left us with all their stuff."

"I live with my aunt, too," said Hiro like it was a coincidence. "All I had for an uncle was my brother, she never married."

"During my school years," Peter resumed. "Some kids started pushing me around just because I was a smartass."

"Like me?" Hiro was beginning to see a mutual connection.

Peter tried to find the rest of his story, but almost immediately, he confessed in a rather nervous tone.

"Well, nobody really likes a nerd who's smarter than everyone else. I did make a few friends, though, Harry Osborn, Liz Allen, Seymour O'Reilly, Sally Anvil-"

"I got beaten up once," Hiro halted the older teen's list. "And Tadashi stayed right by me at every class until he went to the tech."

"Then I got bitten by this spider who fell into the radioactive beam," Peter resumed after a minute had gone by. "Gave me powers, thought I could use them for a TV show, wresting, I let some guy get away…"

He stopped to draw his breath. It seemed he had been wanting to tell his glossy autobiography for some time after Sora's visit to New York.

"Then he killed Uncle Ben, and after finding out that the guy I had been chasing was the crook from the arena that I should have stopped-I had learned a damn good lesion that night-with great power comes with great responsibility."

Hiro didn't know what to make of it. His face was looking pale as he tried to mentally obtain every single word of Peter's mythos.

"Well, this all new to me," he said at last. "But what's really weird about it is all the commodity that we have."

"I would say we we're like twin brothers," Peter quipped. "But not in a _Lottie and Lisa_ sort of way."

Hiro understood the reference.

"Now _that,_" he said, directing his left fingers at Peter's chin. "Would be absolutely the deepest amount of weirdness I would ever see in my life."

And thus, the two _homo sapiens _sharing a familiar background walked back into Fred's room to discuss the current matters at hand.

Later that evening, after walking his way around the new city without stopping for even so much as a bathroom break, Flint Marko finally came to a public house on 770 Stanyan St called the Dripping Dagger, formally known as the Kezar Pub. The proprietor of the establishment, known to her friends as "Filthy Flora", personally suggested a more violent name to reflect her short-lived criminal background of petty offences, like fencing jewelry and exporting alcohol. The entrance to the tavern was dynamite red with twenty seven six inch windows and a similar looking pair of doors. A steel bench painted in navy blue sat blew the window, contrasting with the paint work of the entrance. The interior was dimly lit, but Flint could see through the window that there were about eight tables, with one table all the way in the back he considered to be a nice shady area where he could have peace from the common crowd, avoiding the chances of being recognized.

Upon realizing that no one in the city appeared to know him, or least compare him with somebody else, Marko opened the right side door with his left and was immersed by the atmosphere, taking in a whiff of the air conditioned room. He found the table that drew his attention, only to find a man already, sitting alone with a craned head. He wore a pitch black trench coat with matching gloves and boots, a dark fedora with a light green band sitting on the floor by his left shoe and a bright purple cravat hidden under the collar. Physically he had black hair and black eyes…but his nose seemed to have disintegrated and the rest of his face was like a corpse, an almost exact replica of Lon Chaney Sr. as Erik Destler from the classic silent film version of _Phantom of the Opera_ from 1925.

Ignoring his appearance, Marko thought that this classic Universal monster wannabe needed some company, since most of the other seats were preoccupied by less unscrupulous characters who appeared to be of a mixed race. His boots took careful steps, leaving behind a few inaudible beats as he approached the man and asked politely.

"Mind if I sit with you?"

The man looked up and eyed Marko with a sharp sense of trustworthiness.

"Sure," he said after finding his voice.

Marko took the seat opposite from the man and sat down with his hands locked on the table. A waitress with blonde hair and a grey apron came by with a pencil in her right hand and a notebook in the other. She did not seem to be frightened at all by the strange man, who kept his face looking straight down at the table. Had he moved his head all the way up, she most likely would have screamed.

"What can I get you too?" she asked in a friendly way.

"Just a glass of wine," muttered the strange man keeping his face out of sight.

"Nothing for me thanks," Marko gestured his right hand to the waitress in a defensive way.

"One glass of wine coming right up," the waitress said and she left to find a wine bottle, leaving the two men alone.

The strange man moved his face back up.

"It's not every day I get to sit with a stranger," he tried to smile but it looked eerie with a sort of look that told Marko he was going to kill him for sport. Marko, however, kept his cool with the man.

"I'm more than just your average stranger, I'm a foreigner."

"From where?"

"The Caribbean."

The strange man let out a chuckle that faded into a dulcet tone.

"Must be nice there."

"No, and I don't think we've been introduced," Marko said out of the blue.

Both men shook hands.

"Flint Marko."

"Frank Redrum. Before you ask about my face, let's just say a bullet from a shootout got stuck up my nose and they had to cut off."

"Was it painful?"

"They gave me a sleeping pill so that I wouldn't feel a thing and it work. So most of my nose is gone, but it still works."

"How unfortunate."

"But that was after I escaped," Redrum stated with ferocity in his voice. "The doctor seemed very trustworthy."

"If you think breaking out of a _real_ prison was bad," Marko replied. "I had to be dumped on a deserted island for three years until some 'kids' came along and I hopped onboard their ship."

Looking over Marko's right shoulder, Redrum could see the waitress returning with the bottle and lowered his face back so that she could only see his hair. After she poured the wine from the bottle to the glass in a dainty manner, the waitress left without another word to find another patron asking for his service. Once she left after a second, Redrum raised his head back to Marko with something else in mind.

"You know Big Boy Caprice?"

"Of course I don't," Marko really did feel like a stranger in this city.

"Well he's one of the big honchos around this part of town," Redrum spoke like an expert. "Got his own crime gang called the Apparatus. Last I heard from him, he was asking for new members."

Marko felt that this Big Boy character wanted something big if he was willing bring in as many criminals as he could find.

"If they decide to hire me," Redrum went on. "They'll either see me as the guy killed off all of his cronies two years ago or another curiosity in need of being accepted into a normal society."

"The feeling is mutual," Marko confessed. "Because I can do this."

He held up his right hand and in the blink of an eye, the textures went immediately from flesh to sand. Redrum was fascinated, but that did not stop him from asking Marko.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Practice. Got this stuff from a chemical compound and believe me, it's strong enough to break this table in half."

"No wonder you didn't get yourself a drink," Redrum said taking a sip of the glass.

Marko lowered his hand and the sand reshaped it back to its normal size and texture.

"So where can we find this Big Boy?" Marko asked.

"Club Ritz, apparently. I think it's about a mile from here."

"You think he might still be there at this hour?"

Redrum looked out the window from afar. He could tell the sun had gone down when the streetlights were turned on.

"Yeah," he said after three seconds. "It's still early."

Big Boy, dressed in a black and red dinner jacket, was having a warm dish of lobster in the conference room of Club Ritz. Flattop, 88, Laffy and Lord Deathstrike were in the room as well along with Breathless, who had been staring into the fireplace, hypnotized by the very same flames that took Tadashi away from her and his family, to whom she was starting to care about as well. It seemed that a spiritual embodiment of Tadashi's selfless personality was starting to take hold of her and she was doing her best to resist in what she later described as a metaphysical battle that would change her personality forever.

But on the other hand, Breathless had been feeling bored after so many songs. Dressed in a low cut black gown with gold straps, she was still in mourning and was not planning to stop until after Lord Deathstrike's master plan would succeed. Even if they lost, Breathless would have also ended her mourning at that point and finally, she would be wearing nothing but a whole new season of dresses that matched all the colors of the rainbow.

The calm silence was interrupted by a knock on the door, Big Boy went to answer it.

"Friend or foe?" he asked instead of the usual password.

"Friends," came the reply from the other side.

Trusting his instincts, due to the lack of a peephole on every door in the club, Big Boy stood aside in case they were armed; but it seemed apparent to him that Frank Redrum was very recognizable.

"Oh, it's you. Who's your friend, Frank?"

"This is Flint Marko, from New York."

"How do you do?" Marko shook his right hand with Big Boy's left.

"Oh, fine, just absolutely fine," Big Boy said in his most sassiest tone. His current thoughts were on Hiro, still under the belief that he and those other kids had survived the sinking car.

"I know had that feels," Marko could see right through him. "Mr. Redrum and I are here on business…your business."

Big Boy gestured the two to sit down at his hand of the table.

"This may sound plain and simple," said Marko with an understandable tone. "But with you talking about every criminal wanting to join your league of rogues and turning this city into a city for freaks-"

At the very mention of the offensive name, Big Boy held up the palm of his left hand and Marko stopped.

"Don't use the f-word," he interrupted. "We never use it on ourselves, especially our enemies."

"Sorry," Marko apologized. "But just to be frank…we would like to join your organization."

Big Boy studied him. The other criminals watched with interest while Breathless, not showing any concern, sniffed the butt of a long cigarette under her left nostril and placed it back into the box on the table.

"I'm close to about having enough men and women to suit my needs, but if you can show me what you're good at, I'll consider it."

Redrum leaned closer into Big Boy's right ear.

"They call me the Blank," he whispered. "I've killed several of my own men out of revenge cutting me out of their scheme of rigging slot machines."

"Oh," Big Boy blew smoke through his nostrils. He wasn't impressed by this bland display of a criminal, so he turned to Marko and asked. "So what's your specialty?"

"Watch this."

As before, Marko lifted his right hand at the level of his neck and it transformed into the uncanny shape of a mallet, but it wasn't brown like any other real mallet and just as Big Boy could question the exact nature of Marko's ability, the Sandman swung the mallet right down to the floor, leaving behind a small crack and a quick shudder that shook the room like a weak earthquake passing by on its way to the San Fernando Valley.

Laffy watched his glass of wine vibrating in the aftershock, Flattop and 88 suffered a slight headache from the loud impact of the blow and Breathless' heartrate started to pump faster, fearing the roof would fall on her. Lord Deathstrike could feel the shock through his boots and his fingertips, but his view on Sandman's mallet was questionable.

"Will that be enough to take down any intruders?" he asked Marko.

"Most definitely, I can even fill this whole room with sand if you'd like a demonstration."

"I think we have all we need," Lord Deathstrike said slowly. "You can savior your true powers for the battlefield."

Marko smiled and nodded.

Big Boy unwrapped a Havana from its cellophane and immediately took a puff out of it with his lighter. A mutant was all he needed for a large conquest to overthrow the city council and replace them with his own gang once Krei Tech was out of the picture. Then he would use Sandman again to bury every last member of the police department, including Detective Tracy, alive in a land fill where they would breathe their last breaths until the sand took over their lungs and drown them with no chance of escaping.

"You're hired."

With those two words, he now had a set of thirty criminals. Almost an entire army of rogues to take on a small town, but with proper tactics and concentration, they would take on the entire city with the prowess of Sandman.

* * *

><p>Tadashi's one fatal mistake, as Hiro had pointed out the next morning in his garage, was the lack of fireproof protection. As he had promised yesterday, he decided to give each and every one of the team (including Baymax, Sora and himself, but excluding Donald, Goofy and the S.H.I.E.L.D. rookies) a special two-toned armor and body suit that was flameproof, bulletproof and above all, fit for a true soldier. The bright colors of the suits also served as a tribute to the traditionalists of San Fransokyo, who liked to wear bright comic book-esque colors, even on sad and inky clouded days. For this, the 3D printer had to work overtime, starting from the boots to the helmets, piece by piece. Hiro designed these suits separately on seven windows, using forty seasons of <em>Super Sentai <em>and its spin-offs for reference material on the shape, fundamentals and weaponry of the armor. But first, he had to find the best of their skills, including himself.

Dressed a light blue t-shirt, he watched Honey Lemon test her skills with chemicals. A dropper filled with green in her left hand, while in the other, it was blue. She pinched it ever so carefully above the petri dish and when the liquid made contact with the concoction of tungsten carbide, it sizzled into smoke. Then, using the green liquid, a single drop created a quick source of light, followed by an uproar of gooey squiggles that covered the entire table in three seconds flat. Honey and Hiro smiled at the successful attempt.

A while later, Go Go had rode her bike into the garage and placed it on a harness. Hiro studied it with awe, hoping to use the electromagnetic suspenders for a special feature made for Go Go's suit as she removed the front wheel and tossed it to Hiro. Taking in the details, he now knew what he wanted for the suit: disks.

After consulting his teachers about a special science project, Wasabi took a small version of his laser from the robotics lab and rode the trolley back to Hiro's garage, where he placed it on a workbench as Hiro looked on, his right thumb pressing his chin like a truly patient executive watching a demonstration. Wasabi held a juicy red apple in his left hand and dropped it right into the middle of the green beam. Just as the apple made contact with the beam, it split from the bottom and landed on the table into two perfect halves of what had once been an entire piece of fruit. Wasabi held an open smile while Hiro shared his mutual feelings with a small one. They even got to share the two apple pieces as a reward.

Closer to the end of the day, Fred came in with his Hulk comic. Hiro felt that this was impossible as he studied the cover, but Fred wanted to be something else, a fire-breathing Kaiju. Even though he was still arsonphobic, Hiro agreed on the condition that Fred would not dare to try and burn any buildings. A repeat of Tadashi's death would only break his spirit again and he would have no other reason to live.

After that, Baymax, Sora and the rest of the team gathered around the 3D computer to watch Hiro design what looked like four rings attached to a conveyor belt, followed by a piece of machinery in the shape of a heart. The heart was surrounded by the designs, conductive tracks, electronic components and pads of a circuit board, with the intention of a computer screen filling in the heart.

Honey had gotten the chance to try on her new outfit the next morning on the back porch of Lee Mansion, which consisted of a light purple mini dress with two white linings down the middle and forming a half-circle above her right knee. Dark magenta sleeves and leggings made of latex and wicking fabric with tiny red spots to provide skin protection from a chemical spillage. Purple platform heels with three light pink wedges to strengthen the grip of her boots and rosy red armor with a belt to match. She was no longer wearing glasses, due to the prescriptive visor on her purple helmet with two orange stripes over her head in an equal downslide. The helmet also had horns, which were streaked with orange on the top and purple on the bottom with orange joints, as well as two orange buttons by the base of her helmet to contact the other members of the team via radio.

"I love it!" Honey cried the very moment she observed her body like a model. Her long hair was left untied, but it didn't matter to Honey, who with Hiro by her side in a neon green t-shirt, was ready to begin a six hour training procedure.

Hiro made 3D prints of Yokai's Kabuki mask and the heads of Big Boy, Flattop, Pruneface, Mumbles, Lips, Oodles, B-B Eyes and Coffyhead for target practice, carefully modelling the faces from their own mugshots on a level of "uncanny valley".

Since Honey's old purse was apparently lost with Wasabi's van, Hiro made a new one matching the beige color of her old one from the printer. It had a strap of twenty two empty chem-capsules of purple, red and yellow and Honey would press the right buttons on the heart shaped screen of her bag, which displayed the first thirty six elements of the periodic table. The hydrogen, sodium and iodine elements were displayed in a bright lime green, the transition metals were in pale pink, the metalloids were turquoise and the alkali metals were printed in a sunny shade of yellow that Honey liked. She pressed "Y" (yttrium), "Po" (polonium), "Zr" (zirconium), "Zr" again, "Se" (selenium) and "Ca" (calcium) and the colored balls snapped into action through a hatch that came out of the other side.

One ball passed into the micro chemical factory built inside the bag, where twelve boxy shaped injectors of red, yellow and purple sprouted the chemical cocktails into the ball. Coming out from the other side, Honey's right hand caught the ball and she brought it up to her nose with a silent display of awe. Hiro exchanged her reaction with his own smile of presentation and he gestured his left hand to Heathcliff. The butler had been standing there, watching them as he drank a strong cup of herbal tea. He did show any sign of fear as he placed the faux Kabuki mask over his prudish face of posterity. Only his mustache, mouth and chin were exposed and his eyes looked solemn under the red eye shadow. Standing in front of Honey, he lifted his right hand and gestured his fingers as a form of asking her to come over. Ava Ayla dressed in her White Tiger costume, also participated as a coach and an observer to review the training course.

Honey lifted the ball with excitement, but it quickly faded when she had seen the harmless nature of Healthcliff. So she catapulted the ball and when it struck the slick black shoes of the emotionless butler, it turned into a gelatinous mass of peach orange that turned blue within seconds, and by that time, Heathcliff was waist deep in a sticky, gooey, mass of liquescent.

Quivering slightly, Honey walked tediously over Heathcliff, and removed the mask with her left hand. The butler exchanged a quick smile before Honey threw her arms around his neck and hugged him like he was her favorite teddy bear. White Tiger gave the performance a three out of six for the use of "sticky gelatin", proving it to be comical, but useful for capturing enemies.

* * *

><p>While Hiro had been working on maglev disks for Go Go's suit, the after-hours of the San Fransokyo Natural History Museum told a different story…<p>

Through a glass skylight, Crewy Lou, her waist wrapped in a green bungee cord and a black strap carrying her Winchester, was slowly lowering herself to the ground floor, humming Lalo Schifrin's theme from _Mission Impossible_ as she skid past the display of a _Brachiosaurus_ skeleton. Her tips with the Fujitas had earned her the experience of learning a quiet figure eight, used to move quietly past unsuspecting guards. Taking a can of black spray paint from her dark colored handbag, she found a security camera and sprayed the lens with an indecent manner of trying to exterminate an insect.

The guard who had been reading the evening edition of the _Chronicle,_ only noticed this about a short five seconds after the paint had been applied. He was quick enough to see Crewy taunting him on the screen closest to him, "Chub down, you fat bastard," before coating two other screens on the top left and right bottom screen in a black, inky paint.

"No one calls me a fat bastard," the guard muttered, searching for his Sauer.

Crewy slipped her way past an 18th century vase and came to an exact replica of an Easter Island statue, painting a handlebar moustache above the mouth with a sinister chuckle. Passing the closed ticket booths, she came to the door to find Flattop, Itchy, B-B Eyes – and Lord Deathstrike in the middle of the group. Crewy opened the right side door with her hairpin and stepped aside like a true hostess.

"Nice work, Crewy," Flattop congratulated. "Now, what would be a suitable trade for a portal device?"

Crewy chuckled under her teeth and walked quietly after her male companions.

Under a banner displaying "Hall of Gems & Minerals", the guard with a flashlight in his right hand heard the sound of footsteps and shined his light on Lord Deathstrike and Flattop's gang approaching him ominously. Acting fast, he found the security door and pressed the red button with his left hand. As the button was pushed completely down, the bells rung and grey screens covered the doors and windows, preventing an escape that no match for likes of the criminals he was about to face.

Lord Deathstrike reached his hands for the door as he walked slowly, summoning a thousand of his microbots to create a large blocky glove. The fingers sunk under the gate just as the bottom reached the floor and lifted upwards in a quick squeal of metal, allowing Crewy Lou to enter the exhibit. She pushed her nose against the guard flirtatiously, hiding the Winchester behind her back before the guard had time to notice the barrel aimed directly at where his appendix was supposed to be.

"Don't know whether to hurt you or kiss you, lady," the guard tried to reason with her.

"Do I look harmless to you?" Crewy smiled devilishly.

Just as the guard looked down to see the gun aimed at his stomach, Crewy fired an ear-splitting shot that drowned out the sound of the alarm for at least two seconds before it continued to ring. Blood spewed from his throat and leaked over his bottom lip, then clutching his stomach in extreme pain that shot through his intestines, fell face first in a sea of crimson blood. His cap fell next to him in strange way…something that reminded Lord Deathstrike of another person he used to know, but was not wearing a hat when he died. It was only a lifetime ago and he had to move on from such tragic affairs (not that he had any emotions to deal with).

Careful from setting either one of his boots onto the puddle of blood, Lord Deathstrike's right hand obtained the guard's identification card, sliding it through the security access control and turning off the alarm. The gates were opened as well, returning the lights of the city and the moon to the dark museum.

Flattop was looking at a large ruby in the shape of a diamond. It was said to have been found in Southern Asia about twenty seven years ago and had been carved at a Swarovski facility in Absam.

"For some reason, this just speaks to me," he smiled with intense glee. "What do you think, Crewy? Should we lift it?"

"I think Big Boy would like it," Crewy giggled with poison in her voice. "It would look good in his conference room."

The two crooks stood on opposite ends of the glass case displaying the ruby, staring at its infinite reflections that symbolized their love for blood. As the two lifted the glass, Flattop on the right, Crewy on the left, Lord Deathstrike passed them.

"Leave it," he said gesturing his left hand negatively.

Flattop and Crewy followed his gaze, unwilling leave such a precious beauty.

Itchy came over and looked as though he had to punish his own children (if he had any).

"We can take it later," he snarled to the duo.

Defeated, Flattop and Crewy Lou lowered the display case and followed B-B Eyes to a door which had a sign reading "Authorized Personal Only". He slid the card down and the door opened with ease.

The room was narrow with only a few shelves and file cabinets. Lord Deathstrike peered his eyes over the shelf on his left, filled with separate boxes, then on his left, found a drawer with the name "Mongolian Ruby" written on it in black cursive letters. The jewel was hidden by a white layer of cloth, so he carefully hovered his right hand above it, removing the top layer with his left through tedious fingertips. The magnificent light of the ruby shone through the darkness, revealing a small scent of red as he spoke quietly.

"This ruby has enough light to produce the power needed for the portal."

Flattop, Itchy, Crewy Lou and B-B Eyes peered from behind, comparing the small scale of the gem with the diamond.

"You mean this portal runs on solar power?" B-B asked him.

"Defiantly," Lord Deathstrike said. "It may also provide energy in the place of a beacon."

And he tucked the ruby deep inside his right vest coat pocket, leaving through the front door to start back to Club Ritz.

Because the Toyota was being repaired of the dents and scrapes from the earlier car chase with the intruders, Measles and Mumbles were sitting in a fish taco van they had "rented" from Tako Taco. Measles had been blasting "Orange Crush" by R.E.M. over the CD player, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel while Mumbles covered his ears from the loud disturbance. He never said a word, thinking that Measles would not understand his speech impediment, and kept exchanging angry glances to the young hoodlum, thinking that the music would give them away…and it did.

"Fish tacos? All right!"

A duo of shaggy looking teenage boys named Ryker and Ray knocked on the window, attracting Measles' attention.

"You still open?" asked Ryker.

Measles gave the two a look that meant "go away please or you can say hello to my little friend".

"Sweet!" exclaimed Ray, thinking he said "yes". "I love fish tacos!"

Mumbles looked over to see the obnoxious, hungry males by the door. There had to be something done if they were not intending to go away. He opened the passenger seat door, and walked around the front of the van, carrying his Smith & Wesson. Before the two slackers had time to run, Mumbles fired two warning shots – one into Ray's mouth, the other into Ryker's upper left knee, leaving him crippled, but only for a short time before he succumbed to the shot and died with his best friend as Ray's own life was hanging by a thread.

Just then, Lord Deathstrike and the others came from the left side of the street. He surveyed the scene of the crime with an unhealthy obsession of macabre humor.

"No problems, were there?" he asked the two.

"None," Mumbles said quickly.

"Not until these fucking slobs showed up," Measles gestured his right hand at the bodies. "We have got to get another getaway car."

"Hey, at least I'm not the one who's gonna be riding in the trunk," Crewy argued.

"Just get in the van," Lord Deathstrike ordered.

They dumped the corpses into a nearby trash bin, the others got into the van, Measles turned on the headlights and the vehicle screeched away into the night.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Go Go's suit was ready. It was a black-and-yellow suit of armor with yellow maglev discs on her wrists and boots, gloves to prevent friction, a matching helmet with what looked like a aerodynamic fin on the back to control the airflow, red buttoned joints for crash protection, and black underclothing made of skintight rubber with a hint of red linings and a patch of square textures.<p>

She was sitting down on the bottom step of the back porch at Lee Mansion. Hiro, in his orange t-shirt, used his right hand to pull her up. At the precise minute she let go and was fully standing up, Go Go felt like she was a newcomer at roller skating; as a matter of fact she was. With flailing arms, she lowered her upper body down as her feet stood sideways in an easel position. She stood back up, flung her left leg, then her right and fell to the stone ground on her behind. Hiro tried to help, but she thrusted her left arm at his direction and opened the palm of her hand in a blocking gesture, silently refusing to be helped by some preteen trying to make a living out of her.

Healthcliff had been standing in the middle of the columned porch leading to the garden. He was still wearing the mask and he had been trying to apply a slice of butter to his croissant with a knife in his left hand and a dish carrying it in his right. He didn't mind Go Go spinning around him at seventy miles an hour and tying his legs and waist with a green hosepipe, he just stood there, undaunted as before and letting the croissant standing on its edge. Danny, who had been wearing his Iron Fist suit for the occasion of reviewing, gave Go Go a five out of six for the use of dizziness to weaken the senses of the enemy; if not annoy him.

Go Go, meanwhile, removed the mask and slid her way back to Hiro, tossing it to him as she blew a new piece of pink bubble gum. Pressing the light orange button on the left side of her helmet, she said to Hiro,

"I just went faster than I have ever been in my whole, and I don't feel sick at all."

"When it is your body going fast, you feel fine," Hiro guaranteed her assurance. "When it comes to stuff like roller coasters, that's a different story."

Go Go smiled and Hiro went home, telling his aunt that he and Go Go had been out on a date and Sora played along with the deception. A truncated explanation of the events followed suit.

"We had some Korean food for dinner, watched _Sly Cooper _and had ourselves a couple of sakés."

Hiro's lie seemed to have a perfect outcome on his aunt. He didn't wish to reveal the truth just yet, as before, he was intending to surprise her, hoping to receive what might have been a mixture of a shock and an enormous hug.

Back in his garage, as he listened to Breathless Mahoney's cover of "You Can't Hurry Love" and her newest single, "Immortals" on the boom box radio, Hiro extracted the model skeleton of his Baymax model on the 3D computer while the real Baymax watched him with care and curiosity. Hiro knew that now was the time for Baymax to receive his own armor.

After a quarter of an hour, Baymax's left gauntlet was ready. Hiro held his most prized creation with both hands very carefully and tightly as he brought it over to Baymax. Baymax held out his left hand, ready to have the gauntlet plugged in – and it did, but did go all the way through and the forearm was compressed from the helium. Instead of asking Baymax to deflate his immense body by a couple of meters, Hiro pushed the gauntlet two more times like a plunger with no success. Plumbing it again, he pushed Baymax to the garage door and with a grunt, successfully squeezed the glove into the hand of rubber.

Next, Hiro placed Baymax on his back as he pushed the right footplate into the marshmallow-like foot with the robot's head against the 3D printer for support. As he placed the foot on, the plate struck Hiro's chest and his eyes went wide with a short pain to his heart. He didn't have much trouble with the arms, chest and shoulder pads, thanks to Goofy and Donald, but Hiro was sensitive towards the "buttpiece". Baymax felt a great shove of insecurity as Hiro placed the piece into his rubbery rear end and blinked once, looking traumatized.

Once that had been settled, Hiro, with the help of Sora, set Baymax down, grabbed the left footplate and charged at it with great speed. The moment he shoved the footplate in, the force of the impulsion made contact with his chest and pushed him back a few three inches from the robot. Thankfully, although Hiro had fortunately landed on his behind, he was exhausted by the time the helmet was to be placed onto Baymax's head.

The helmet had less difficulty, but it was nothing compared to the "corset piece", which was purple with three lines that went down, three meters straight in the middle and back up in the same extent of the downward line. Hiro took a deep breath and proceeded to attach the corset to Baymax's nearly completed armor. With every ounce of sweat and toil, he struggled to push the corset against the vinyl, compressed surface of Baymax's chubby stomach using all the strength he had. Effectively pushing the top part of the corset under the chest plate, Hiro placed the left side of his face against the corset for support, clenching his teeth and straining his lungs as the helium was starting to gain the upper hand. But Hiro's own hand, his right one, pushed against the potbelly and with a slow comeuppance, slotted the bottom of the corset right above Baymax's "codpiece". He fell face first, thankful that he did not severe his hand for performing such a task.

Hiro stood up, beaming with a chuckle as he backed away to view the combined _magnum opus _of his brother and himself. Sora, Donald and Goofy stood seven feet behind him with astonishment in their eyes. Baymax was kneeling on his right knee and carried himself up, lifting his right foot by twelve inches as he suspended the foot for three seconds and lowered it back onto the ground. The majority of the armor matched the orange-reddish color of his luggage with purple spots on his shoulder pads and the backs of his gloves. He stood proud, tall and serious with fisted hands and his helmet, which had two horns with purple joints, covered the top halves of his eyes, giving the appearance of a glare.

"You look awesome, Baymax!" Hiro chuckled and he flexed his muscles to emphasize the reinforced durability and flexibility armor.

Baymax lifted his arms, directly copied Hiro's position, sunk his head further—and his helmet shot in the air like a rocket, setting off a chain reaction to the shoulder pads to which the left one had struck Donald in the face. Then the gauntlets, the chest plate and the bottom half which suspended Baymax in the air by six feet before gravity kicked in and sent his feet back to the floor. Hiro dodged and looked away, not wishing in any way to see his creation falling to pieces. All that was left of Baymax once he was on the ground was the purple corset, which looked out of place in giving his exposed body the appearance of a ballerina.

"Oh no."

Just the words escaped from his voice box, the corset could not hold any longer and catapulted right off the vinyl body as quick as a flash. Hiro looked away again before turning back to Baymax and covered his face with his left hand, opening his left eye through his index and middle fingers out of annoyance.

As Sora and Goofy helped Donald to his feet, Hiro's cheeks went as pink as Breathless Mahoney's sleek boattail speedster, looking at all the hard work that had gone to waste. The gauntlets lay on their sides like the discarded gloves of a careless giant, three of the rear pieces lay stacked in a corner, the helmet fell behind a trash can, the corset lay on its end and the rest of the armor was scattered all beside the four corners of the room, knocking over a screwdriver, three boxes and a skateboard.

"Next time," Sora advised. "Ask Baymax to deflate himself by just a little," and he placed his left thumb and index fingers within an inch from each other as a way of accentuating the problem.

Hiro facepalmed again. He felt like his brain was down to an iota.

That same night, a conference was held at Club Ritz. A tintinnabulation of cars and trollies were the only sounds that filled the night along with footsteps, the honking of horns and a small drizzle that passed over the city and moved onwards to Arizona and Utah. The flames of the fireplace in the conference room were now brighter than ever as Big Boy introduced his newest member to the rest of his peers, who as usual, were sitting with him at the fiberglass table. Lord Deathsrike stood by his left hand side while Frank Redrum and Marko stood opposite to Deathstrike on the right.

"May I present Frank Redrum," he said at last.

The criminals made a short applause, for he was likely to be another ordinary hit man.

"Now what is your profession, Frank?"

Frank had his back to Big Boy, his hands moved from his right vest pocket, holding a piece of rubber that only Breathless and 88 Keys could make out as a mask of sort. Placing it over his face, Frank turned slowly back and when his head was completely facing the table, it also met a reaction of wide-eyed criminals. Pear-Shape and Laffy even thought twice before touching another drop of brandy to make sure they weren't fantasizing while under the influence.

"They call me the Blank," a creepy voice spoke from the mask.

"And now for another member of our party, Mr. Flint Marko."

Before the criminals had a chance to applaud, Marko raised his right hand, molding it slowly into a heavy, hard, malleable sand…in the shape of a mallet. The crooks were impressed, until Flattop spoke up.

"How's sand gonna help us? A dust storm."

Marko fixated his eyes on Flattop.

"More than that," he spoke lowly.

He pushed his right hand forwards, changing it into a fist. Flattop had little time to realize his mistake and before he could dodge his head out of the fist's way, his nose suffered a hard blow from the sandy knuckles, the chair tipped backwards and he fell on his spine with a small shock of pain surging through his back. Flattop, after ten seconds of short breaths, helped himself and the chair back to an upright position just as Big Boy began his briefing.

"I strongly believe there's a thirty to three chance that those kids, or at least one of them, survived that fall into the bay. And to make sure of it, we're gonna have to comb the city from top to bottom and finish 'em off while we search for more pieces for the portal."

"What portal?" Marko asked.

"It's a long story, Mr. Marko," explained Lips Manlis. "Lord Deathstrike, our benefactor, promises to use it for own advantage off ridding San Fransokyo of its normality's and the police department."

"Speaking of the men in blue," Crewy Lou spoke up. "Did they find out about the guy I killed?"

"Unfortunately," Itchy said solemnly. "B-B and I read it all online."

"But the good news is that thanks to your spray paint," B-B Eyes added after him. "They weren't able to figure out it was you."

"Looks like I'm too fast for Tracy to catch me," she smiled devilishly.

"And 'we'," Flattop added. "Have to get on a move on before gets a step ahead of us."

"Well said, Flattop," Big Boy addressed his fellow Solomans. "Now all in favor of finding the kids, stand now or forever hold your peace."

The criminals remained seated, and it seemed, in Big Boy's own opinion, that they were much too lazy and much too focused on Lord Deathstrike's construction of the portal for a secondary objective.

"I'll look for 'em," said Spaldoni, rising from his seat.

"It'll be much faster if we work together," Big Boy said gravelly. "Before Joe Q. Public gets wind of our motives."

"Finding a bunch of kids in this city is like finding a needle in haystack, which makes me the needle," Spaldoni said. "I know what the kid with the dark hair looks like. Got his balloon friend too, along with the duck, dog and that other guy with the spiky hair."

"Good luck, then," Big Boy said magnanimously.

After Spaldoni left quickly out of the room, Caprice turned back to his colleagues.

"The least I can hope for my lawyer is that he reports their location first."

While Spaldoni searched the city, unarmed so as not to increase the danger zone of criminals, Hiro was working on the pogo-hydraulics of Fred's suit. Unlike the others, it was a fully covered costume resembling his own idea of a Kaiju monster named Krogar: mostly consisting of the colors blue, orange and turquoise, with three black, spiky, claw-like nails, a tail with similar features, and three eyes (with the top lens notably acting as Fred's access to night vision). Its four-fanged "mouth" was the only opening the suit had and the soles on the suit's feet enabled Fred to perform high jumps.

That morning at his manor, Fred was jumping like a child on Christmas morning when he saw his new costume all laid out for him. Setting it down, he thrusted his legs into the body and Hiro helped himself up. Then Hiro held the top eye and headdress for the costume and Fred jumped into it, sticking the head on. A sophisticated flamethrower inside the suit was mounted to his abdomen, and Velcro was attached to the pogo hydraulics around his ankles.

Once the top was on, Fred shouted "Super jump!" as he leapt his way about nine feet into the air. He fell back to earth, and the impact with the ground launched him even higher, about fifty feet at least. At the precise altitude of forty nine feet, he curled his limbs and unleashed the flamethrower into a perfect three hundred and sixty degree angle, which created a ring of fire around an undaunted Heathcliff, who was reading _The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side_ by Agatha Christie in his right hand.

"I'M BREATHING FIRE!" Fred shouted. His voice was muffled behind his costume as he jumped around the center. He twiddled his fingers behind his butler and grabbed the mask, pulling it off before the Englishman had time to react. In his Black Nova outfit, Sam made a cocky six out of six in his review, mentioning the similarity of his own powers and thought it would be cool to combine plasma and fire in the event of a large battle.

* * *

><p>Earlier that same morning, Hiro worked on Wasabi's gloves and it was lunchtime by the very hour Wasabi himself got to wear it. It was an ice green armor chest plate and arm pads on the top of his body, with a flowing, shimmering trench coat made of lamé and colored in sapphire blue, indigo cropped pants with patterns of three lines written all over it, jikatabi boots with red linings on the bottom and sides in an "M" shape over the ankle, a pink-red bandana and a smart visor to filter out laser glare.<p>

At the mansion, he turned the gloves on, producing a cerulean flame of super-hot plasma that came in ten different blades based on movement and selection by button under the glove where the fingers should be. They could slice through any know material with ease and had 98% chance of not being able to cut through human flesh, as most superheroes had a "no-killing" rule in order to respect the things in life, even if they didn't deserve it.

Surprised at first to see his invention brought to a different form, Wasabi watched Heathcliff sidestep once to the left to reveal a Lobster tennis ball launcher. He pressed the top green button with his right index finger and a light green tennis ball came shooting out. With shut eyes, Wasabi ducked like he was in a game of dodgeball and shielded his forehead with the blades, creating an "X" as the ball soared through… and was split in half. Wasabi looked behind the see the results. Heathcliff pressed the top button again six more times and Wasabi raised his left glove at the oncoming ball, then his right, left, two more balls on the right, one more on the right, two on the left, right, left, right, a knife chop on the left, a stab on the right and he charged to the machine with each slice strengthening his energy and motive to fight.

As he came to the machine Wasabi jumped, and lifted his right hand at the basket of the machine. Then, in a flash of light, the machine itself was split in half, and Wasabi concluded his training course by flicking the Kabuki mask off of Heathcliff with his left index and middle fingers and caught it in the palm with a cocky smile. He was about to high-five Hiro with his right hand before realizing that the laser in his same hand was still on and quickly turned it off with a fast curl of his fingers. Luke Cage, who had been reviewing in his Power Man suit and sunglasses, made a four out of six in his review for apparent rage and boldness that proved to be sacrificial in the future.

"Cool work Hiro," Wasabi congratulated.

The two proceeded to high five and Hiro rushed back to the garage to get his own armor. Should Aunt Cass catch him in the act, he would fib that he and the gang were going to a costume party. Sora was waiting there with his own armor, dark indigo chest pad, bodysuit and gloves with citrine straps around his upper legs and crimson shoulder pads, armor legs and tight-fighting shoes with a dark plate of armor on the toes.

As Sora had retired his Keyblade Armor after the defeat of Xehanort, thinking that he didn't need it anymore, his personal suggestion to become a member of Hiro's superhero team under the consent of Hiro's acquiescence found Sora taking Tadashi's honorary position in the "nerd group". While he was starting to gain some of his brother's traits, Hiro found Sora and Peter Parker to be kindred spirits regarding their own lives and similarities between himself and Tadashi. But while Peter had an uncle, it was the closest thing he had to a brother or a father-figure compared to Sora, not knowing his brother Ventus whose heart had been rehabilitating in his own since he was four years old. All three males had that certain feeling of connections that were established by the separate worlds.

Hiro got his own armor ready, a royal indigo helmet and armor with dynamite red accents and black-grey pouches for tools, with black latex clothing underneath that covered most of his body up to his knees, along with steel-toe black sneakers fitted with grey laces. On his suit are red magnetic pads, used to carry onto Baymax's yet-to-be fixed armor for transportation and battle purposes. The wrists of his Kevlar gloves had portable computers that flipped open for statistics, data information and attacks. Hiro hoped that once he got his microbots back (if he did), he would put the suit to a better purpose.

* * *

><p>After seven hours of a long drive (and a walk for exercising), Spaldoni returned empty handed to Big Boy. He confessed that the kids themselves were the needles in the hay-field and after a calm rant that spared Spaldoni at the mercy of his employer, Big Boy sat alone in the conference with 88 Keys as his only company over an early dinner of steak and potatoes.<p>

"What can you lose, Big Boy? What can you lose?"

88's words struck the criminal as puffed on his Havana like a train engine burning coal uphill.

"I don't know. The final part of the heist is coming up in a few hours and after tomorrow it'll be smooth sailin' from here on in."

"Jesus H. Christ, Victory Day's getting closer and closer by the minute."

"And then what?" Big Boy asked impulsively. "Most leaders should be satisfied when ruling an entire city."

"I've seen it all the time in fiction like _Star Wars _or _1984,_" Keys said austerely. "No matter how many times a person tries to rule a city, a country or even the entire world, there will always be a rebellion."

Big Boy's eyes rolled with sarcasm.

"Well that's exciting."

"It's like finesse with a touch of _The Monkey's Paw_. Case in point being Alistair Krei, the robotics professor and the Hamada kid. They saw right through your façade, so they turned their backs on you and got themselves killed."

"I know that, but since the last two are out of the way, all that's left is Krei. If I took his company, I could own half the world."

Caprice's hands were coupled in a tight grip, smoothing the palms slightly with a greedy sent of worldwide capitalism. A tan finger of destruction bent on opposing the thumbs of his enemies.

"But let's talk about our reward," 88 resumed. "If this goes well, can I get a ten percent of the city?"

Big Boy presented a $3,000 bundle from his right coat pocket.

"Okay, piano playa. You've got a deal."

* * *

><p>It was 5:55 PM when Hiro, now clad in his purple armor, found his friends and the rookies on the back porch of Lee Mansion, sitting on the light mauve colored benches. Wasabi was scratching his bum with his left hand.<p>

"Anyone else's suit riding up on them?"

But nobody listened, Honey was flirtatiously giggling herself over her new purse, Go Go was throwing her right disk around like a Frisbee and Fred was flexing his muscles in his new body suit. The Kabuki mask lay on a Breuhaus styled table, standing on the bottom piece and the rookies stood by, Nova the Human Rocket leaning against the doorway. Goofy and Donald sat on the floor, waiting for Sora, Hiro and Baymax as they played Crazy Eights. Before either one of them could win, Sora came along, surprising Donald and Goofy so much that the muscles in their hands weakened and they dropped the cards into a random pile.

"That's some smart armor!" commented Power Man before anyone could reply.

Sora beamed.

"Hey guys!" shouted Hiro, coming from the west in his indigo armor. "Check this out!"

As Hiro led the group onto the grass, hopping excitedly with crazed child-like discovery, Spider-Man came into view with Baymax by his left hand side.

"I like to introduce…Baymax – 2.0."

With gripped fists, Baymax stood and proud and tall like a true soldier, like a regular robot made of metal instead of rubber, and a heavy reminisce of Tadashi's strong minded nature and selfless courage against all odds.

While the others stared with open mouths, Fred covered the mouth of his suit with his claws in a state of fanaticism.

"Oh!" he cried from beneath the costume. "He's glorious!"

Spider-Man took his place alongside the group, leaving Baymax to himself. The ex-healthcare robot waved a friendly "hello" with his right hand before he found himself in the company of a _Habrodais grunus_, also known as a Golden Hairstreak butterfly. The butterfly landed on Baymax's index finger, and his head jerked in the direction of the beautiful insect, studying it with his hyperspectral eyes. As part of Tadashi's DNA within the healthcare, Baymax had been programmed to respect even the most grotesque things in life, yet the butterfly was so beautiful, he felt a deep portion of love and curiosity within his circuits.

A second later, the Golden Hairstreak flew off the finger and Baymax's head followed its direction. He wanted to follow it so much, yet Hiro ran up and placed his hands on his corset, stopping abruptly. All Baymax could do was watch the butterfly flutter it's wings, growing smaller and smaller from his view until it was nothing but a speck of dust that disappeared completely out of existence.

"_Fōkasu!_" the boy shouted. "Show them what you've got!"

Baymax pushed his head by an inch, confused.

"The fist!" Hiro seethed, clenching his left hand and curling it into a fist. "Show them the fist!"

Repeating Hiro's gesture, Baymax positioned himself with his legs apart and his right arm acting as a guard for balance. Four mini rockets came from under his top, bottom, left and right sides of the gauntlet, releasing a blue-purple flame of heat. The decibels of a jet engine came within the group's hearing range which irritated their ears a little. Spider-Man even held his ears when a blast of energy sent the fisted gauntlet off of Baymax's left wrist, heading straight towards a statue of Prince Hans of the Southern Isles, a randomly picked decoration by Fred for his eleventh birthday.

The fist shattered the statue into fifty pieces and broke through the wall behind the prince that crumbled with the rustling of the trees and bushes. The others were amazed, but Go Go could only express her appreciation with crossed armed and a deadbeat set of lips.

"Rocket fist!" shouted Fred going into a childlike behavior of clapping his hands. "Make Freddy so happy!"

_Oh, grow up. _Go Go fixed her eyes on Fred's immaturity, but Danny Rand had his own punchline to crack.

"And they call _me_ 'Iron Fist'," he said, making his left hand glow in damp yellow energy with a tiny smile.

Then, like a large magnet (to which it was), Baymax's fist flew back to the forearm the same way it came, only reversed, and the mini rockets folded back into the armor.

"That's just one of his new upgrades," Hiro said, trying to contain his enthusiasm. "Baymax, wings open!"

Baymax complied, and out of his back were two streamlined, eagle-designed wings with sections of metal feathers.

"No way!" Fred cried again.

"Damn right, no way," Go Go added.

"Can he really fly with those aerodynamics?" Wasabi asked.

"Maybe he should test them first?" White Tiger said as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.

"I want a ride!" Sora shouted, running up to the robot.

Hiro, however, beat him to the first, he placed his left foot on the back of Baymax's own left foot, then his right and flung his arms onto the spine. His gloves, boot soles and knee-pads, which were electromagnetic, clung to the four purple rimmed platforms of Baymax's back. Once his hands were close to the robot's collar, Hiro shouted, "Thrusters!"

Baymax hovered above the air by four inches, floating like a ballerina on tip-toe with his hands teetering over his hips. The heat of the rockets (which were located in his legs), did seem to burn the grass as Baymax floated back to the ground. Sora, who was clinging to the left wing, tried hard not to succumb himself to motion sickness.

"I fail to see how flying makes me a better healthcare companion," he turned to Hiro, who was smiling madly.

"Oh, who cares!" he shouted, slacking his tongue between his teeth. "It's awesome!"

He aimed his left hand toward the sky. "Full thrust!"

Faster before he could say, "We have cleared the tower," Baymax shot in the air as fast as lightning and quickly made a 180 degree turn to the south. Sora and Hiro yelled all the way as they took off to the Ashbury district, where an eight year old boy in a cerulean samurai hoodie watched them fly by on Waller Street.

"I think I can see my house from here!" Hiro shouted to Sora.

They cruised past Mike's Diner, where Tess and Junior were having a nice hot dinner of chili and the Blue Plate Special. Tess looked out the window with a small "Hmm?" as the sound of Baymax's thrusters died away. She did not see the flying robot, but Junior who had been sitting opposite to Tess, watched Baymax soaring down the street—but only for a quick glimpse that lasted three seconds.

"We should take this a little bit more slowly," said Sora as they flew up Oak Street.

Hiro, now taking full control of Baymax with his magnets, directed the robot straight up into the sky, ordering Baymax to put his engines on full thrusters. So he did. For Sora, it was exciting, but Hiro was so frightened by the sudden speed of the rockets, he was cringing in his helmet.

"Too much thrust! TOO! _MUCH!_ _**THRUST!**_"

As if on cue, Baymax turned the rockets off, sorting them back into his feet.

They came across the Golden Gate Bridge with its pagoda-like towers dominating the sky. Hiro hoped that they were close enough to land on the south tower, but Baymax had been going so fast that they were falling right over it and heading straight to the road, where all three would meet an unfortunate death on the pavement.

"Back on! BACK ON! BACK _ON!_" Hiro screamed and Sora clung for dear life on the wing as Baymax pummeled to the street in an upright position.

Just as they were about five feet from striking the pavement, Baymax's engines kicked in and the trio soared over the traffic jam of cars and buses carrying approximately fifty people coming to and leaving the city for a variety of reasons. One boy with black hair and a sour green sweatshirt, sitting in the back of his mother's Chrysler 300, was making rocket noises with his Optimus Prime action figure when Hiro, Baymax and Sora rocketed past the car, surprising the boy and a few drivers as they went by. A Chevrolet Camaro even suffered a fender bender with an old Ford Pinto just so that driver of the Camaro could get a better view of the flying robot before it was too late.

Baymax zoomed over the trailer of a moving van and elevated his wings up to the north tower, nearly colliding the pagoda edge as he turned off the engines and landed smack dab on the roof.

Sora fell onto the edge about a second before Baymax placed his wings back into his body.

"I could have used my Keyblade Glider for this."

"I think that's enough flying for one day," Hiro sighed in relief. "What do you say?"

But Baymax only turned his head at Hiro and scanned quietly for his current state of health, which had changed almost drastically since his last scan. Hiro's blood pressure was at 143/90, his respiratory rate at 47, his blood oxygen level at 100 and his temperature rate was at 99.

"Your neurotransmitter levels are rising steadily," he said to the smiling kid.

It dropped, however, when Hiro, his brain muddled from the flight, asked slowly. "Which means…what?"

Baymax moved his head away from Hiro, facing the sunset. "The treatment is working."

"What treatment?" asked Sora, trying to recover from the wild ride.

The robot stood still for a second or two…then he pushed all his weight onto his right side and tipped slowly as Hiro and Sora shouted, "No! NO! NO! NO! _NO! __**BAYMAAAAAAAAAAAAXX!**_"

When Baymax's right foot completely left the tower, his body took a nosedive, heading straight into the bay… But then, when they reached the bottom of the arch, there was a sudden flash of purple light and Baymax's wings expanded, flying right over the bay at a speed of one hundred miles per hour and leaving a foam of water in the wake of the rockets.

Hiro had his eyes close, waiting to be reunited with Tadashi in the hereafter (as he had expected two times earlier), but the wind seemed to carry his brother's voice, whispering:

"_Open your eyes…_"

Hiro obeyed and he found himself smiling at the sight of Sora, Baymax and himself soaring across the bay, whooping and yelling "_**YES!**_" in English and in Japanese as they headed over Fisherman's Wharf and headed up the Union Square financial district. In a mix of light and darkness that shone over the buildings was a hazy tint from the fading sun that encircled the trio as they flew down Market Street to the taller buildings, soaring left and right amongst the Millennium Tower and shot towards Mission Street at lightning fast speed.

Passing the ElectriTech building, leaving behind a dual river of white clouds from the wake of the rockets, B.O. Plenty and Gravel Gertie who were out shopping with Sparkle for birthday decorations, saw Baymax, Hiro and Sora performing a loop over a bridge where eleven lanterns of red and decorated with a Japanese letter hung under the archway. It was followed by a loop-de-loop around a giant butcher's knife, flooded with Hiro's whoops and Sora's shouts of "Oh yeah!" as they flew upwards.

"Looks like we're in for an airshow," B.O. said to his wife. Gravel smiled as they watched the rocket disappear.

In the Tenderloin, Officers Gerson and Groovy Groove were about to grab an early dinner of hot dogs and French fries from a food stand on Jones Street, when out of the blue, a strong gale blew their caps right off their heads and pushed the red lanterns of the stand from the shockwave of the wake. They looked and they saw a red rocket flying close to the _Sailor Moon_ billboard from the Renoir Hotel, and towards the elevated railway.

"What the hell was that?" Groovy muttered to his partner. But Gerson paid no mind to this little disturbance and proceeded to eat his hot dog.

The driver of the el train, a veteran named Jim, saw Hiro and Sora waving back at him as they entered the tunnel before Baymax's thrusters shot the trio down the track. Unsure how to respond, Jim just sat there in cab, wracked and confused. It was apparent that he had never seen this sort of robot before.

They flew around One Rincon Hill, where Hiro saw his reflection in the glass office windows, staring back at him in a lovely reminder of his escape from Yama on Tadashi's motorcycle about a month and three weeks ago. But it seemed like ten years to Hiro, whose eyes were locked onto his reflection as it smiled with the same tooth gap that his counterpart had between the two front teeth.

_I look good. _Hiro chuckled at himself.

Once they reached the top, Baymax slid his left hand at the 1,990 foot cable like a surfer gliding the tail of his or her board against a rising wave without causing a metal friction. The cable led them up to a white colored wind turbine with the markings of blue and black waves that looked more like owl feathers. Baymax placed his altitude at 2,001 feet, he looked at Hiro and Sora could tell they were going to have some fun with turbines, starting with the one that was painted in a gothic shade of purple with tiny fins on the sides like a shark or a dolphin. Then Hiro took Baymax to the starboard while passing another one in a royal red color that was decorated to look like a clownfish. It was followed by a regal tang design on the left and a blue and white on the right. Hiro ducked his head as they passed the left side of a killer whale colored turbine and Sora kept holding on to the wing as they spun to the port side of a blue bird shaded turbine.

At last, Baymax rotated himself in a loop-de-loop and Sora smiled to watch Hiro fling his arms up as high as he could go with a loud whoop that echoed all across the city of San Fransokyo on a clear yellow sunset. For the first time in his life since Tadashi's death, this was the happiest moment of them all.


	12. Big Hero 6 vs the Apparatus

Under the blue skylight of the dark attic located directly above the conference room of Club Ritz, Big Boy and Lord Deathstrike were in the middle of a consultation. They had been going at it for the past two hours and it was high time that the penultimate phase of the master plan was to be finished by nightfall. Tomorrow morning, the portal would be complete and what they planned to do with it, no one knew… except for Lord Deathstrike himself. The majority of the recent activities going on in the club had forced the building to shut down until further notice, using only a simple "Closed" sign as a façade for the discreet meetings and operations of the Apparatus. Everything that was stolen remained in the attic for safe-keeping and the skylight was large enough for the bigger pieces to fit through.

"So we get into the island, take whatever we can find and just leave?" Big Boy asked feverishly.

"Yes…"Lord Deathstrike added lowly. "Along with a portion of the original portal. As for its placement for the final act, _my_ microbots will do the rest."

The other hoods waited in the conference room, lolling around and stretching about in their chairs, waiting for Big Boy's result. Flattop drummed his right fingers impatiently on the table to the tune of "Separate Ways" by Journey as he shot an ill glance at Crewy Lou, who was sitting on his left. Flint Marko had his back to the wall, arms cross and lost in thought and Frank Redrum was already prepared with his Blank mask on. Spots, 88 Keys, Laffy, Pruneface and B-B Eyes were only ones smoking off of cigarettes. Coffyhead had been stirring a cream puff cappuccino with a teaspoon in his left hand. Breathless was looking down at the skirt and sleeves of her full-bodied black leather dress that she had been wearing frequently for a month.

_Am I the only one wearing the right choice? _She thought.

At last, as if waiting a dentist's drill, Big Boy and Deathstrike came in shouting. "This is it! The penultimate climax! Get out the guns!"

Immediately, the hoods went to the ammunition closet hidden in the left side wall of the room and began arming themselves with machine guns and shotguns.

"Next stop, Akuma Island," Big Boy continued as he opened the safe for his Colt 1911. "And then, we go on – to the ceremony of the new Krei Tech headquarters."

"Are the cars fixed already?" Breathless asked him as she stood near the safe.

"Just mine and Lips'," Big Boy was stuffing the gun in his turquoise right vest pocket. "The taco van has enough room for the rest of us and we'll be taking our own private ferry to the island."

"Good," Marko said with utter satisfaction. "At least water will be the least of my problems."

"I can see why," the Blank stared at him emotionlessly.

"Try not to let anyone see your rods, or tip 'em to anything bein' wrong. Okay? Leave that to me. Keep it calm, cool and collected," Caprice instructed. "And while we're there, keep an eye out for anyone who tries to intervene."

It was at that moment when Marko asked. "Excuse me, but, Krei Tech?"

"That's the name in case your ears are clogged with sand, Sandy," sassed Big Boy. "We get him, we get his company and we get the city to ourselves."

Then he turned his head to Breathless.

"I knew Alistair Krei personally, I even had a meeting with him once, didn't I tell you?"

He took Breathless roughly by the hand and pulled her out the room followed by Deathstrike and Flattop as he continued ranting.

"But let me tell you something else, we might as well just put a bullet through his head!"

"Watch the sleeves!" she snarled. "I paid $156 for this!"

"Just keep your mouth shut 'til we get to the island," muttered Big Boy as they crossed through the vacant showroom.

"Why?"

"Even walls have ears," said Flattop in a stage whisper.

As the other hoods followed after them in nervous, strong-headed and excited steps, Big Boy, his mind aiming to the garage, made one final proclamation before entering his Cadillac.

"You might think that Tracy and the men in blue have got this island surrounded, but we're gonna get outta this!"

The garage doors opened, the cars and taco van raced through the street and slowed down once they reached the pier. Big Boy paid the owner of the Baylink ferry, a retired naval officer, a generous tip of $1,500 and immediately took the boat with everyone except the man onboard, saying that he needed a rest anyway.

"Now _this_ is how you run a ship," he whispered as he turned the wheel three degrees to the starboard.

On their way home from Mike's Diner via Haight Street, Tess and Junior were discussing about the "unidentified flying object" that might as well could have been a rocket as Junior asked his adoptive mother.

"So what do you think it was?"

"I don't know," Tess said, crisply. "It could have been anything, a plane, a rocket, a flying robot for all I care! Anything that's anything has to be logical by today's standards."

"I'd go with the flying robot," Junior abetted. "It did have two jets going out of the end and two jets means two feet."

"Whatever you say."

Then Junior asked Tess something he didn't think of recently.

"So what was Tracy's big deal about calling the fire last month an electrical spark? Didn't they find the real cause?"

Tess stopped turned back to face him.

"Well, if your dad had to put the lid on the Callaghan-Hamada case, he had to pick _something_."

"But isn't that what you'd call injustice?"

"It's called deductive reasoning, kiddo. You'll know a lot more about it later in life."

The Lucky Cat Café was up ahead. Tess felt that a chat with Cass was all she needed to lighten her dreary week of "AWOL Tracy at the PD". And so, taking a lump of the street air into her lungs, she walked the steps and entered the door with hidden courage. Junior followed her with a similar thought of Hiro being at home all day.

At the sound of the bell, Cass, who had been washing the dishes in the kitchen, walked over to meet her customers. Aside from Tess, Junior and herself, there were only six people in the café during the evening hours before it closed at 8:00 PM. She went over to the ruby-headed wife of a famous detective with a smile that only caused Tess to feel a pain in her head.

"Hey, Tess. You and Junior looking for an extra bite?"

"No," Tess replied sadly. "We just ate."

"I wanted to know if Hiro was home," Junior added out of the blue before Tess could answer. "For the sleepover, I mean."

"He's out with friends," Cass confessed, trying not to sound disappointed. "But I'll let you know if he's back tomorrow morning."

Tess walked over to the menu, a glazed expression fixed her facial muscles as she spoke into the darkness.

"Out with friends, huh? I'll bet he's doing some nifty undercover work as well."

"What do you mean?" asked Cass.

"Think about it: Tadashi, the victim of the fire, was Hiro's brother and Hiro is so distraught that he's trying to make peace with his brother's death by trying to figure it out all by himself like the true genius he really is."

Cass was flustered. Tess' words made it seem like her nephew was putting his gift of high intelligence to another use of greatness: detective work. She couldn't bear to think of losing Hiro as well, but seeing him leave with Tadashi's friends made Cass feel insecure and unleash a branch of overprotectiveness in her personality–the same kind Tadashi had when Hiro attended bot-fights all those months ago. But she had to be strong and supportive for her "little man".

"Tess, maybe you're just overthinking this. Hiro's fine, he's even going to school with friends."

Tess turned back with a leaden expression.

"That's what he wants you to think," she said blandly. "And I think he's covering it all up so you wouldn't have a heart attack."

Cass thought about it for thirteen seconds. It was apparent to her that she needed more proof…just like her husband.

"If I see Hiro, I'll tell him what you said."

"Good," Tess' lips created a tiny smile. "Then we're even. Come on Junior."

Junior, who had been looking into the ice cream bowls for a late night dessert, heard her voice and followed Tess out the door on quick feet.

When they arrived back at the house, however, Tess was sitting in her red Plymouth, staring into the emptiness that belonged to the color of the garage. Before Junior could ask her what she was doing in the car, Tess cocked her head and told him.

"Why don't you take the trolley and see what your father's doing at the police station? I need some time alone."

Junior nodded and he turned on his heels, passing B.O. Plenty, as he was fifteen feet away from the house, who saw Tess and stood next to her by the driver seat window.

"Evening, Miss Tess. Y'all goin' someplace?"

"Just for a drive," Tess said, not looking at him.

"Same here," B.O. chuckled. "But I just got back from a walk with Gertie and the kid and saw this humdinger of a rocket flying right by."

Too dazed to see any connection to Junior's "flying robot", Tess continued to keep B.O. out of her field of vision.

"You know something? I need to relax. I don't know why, but, I just feel so bored."

"Maybe, you should see a comedy."

At last, Tess turned her eyes on B.O.

"Thanks, but no thanks."

She ignited the engine, pulled out of the driveway, and turned east down Haight Street, intent on visiting her mother's apartment above the deli on Columbus Avenue. She was certain that the news of Tadashi Hamada's death would have reached her by now. Two years ago, the Hamadas visited the Trueheart home on Thanksgiving along with a few of Mrs. Trueheart's neighbors for a large dinner, and Cass brought in the extra plates while Hiro and Tadashi carried in the turkey and the pumpkin pie on silver dishes. It was also on this historic occasion that Dick Tracy made his announcement to have Tess as his wife.

Tess looked through the rearview mirror to B.O.'s head watching her as if he was stalking her, but she let out a short laugh at the memory of the ten karat diamond ring Tracy had given her. Now she was heading into the city with a strong mind and a lonely heart.

* * *

><p>The sunset was a beautiful display of yellow, orange, red, purple and pink that went further than all the colors of the rainbow. The waters of the San Fransokyo Bay were stagnant in a lazy breeze of the ocean air that swept through the turbines and airships patrolling the sky. It was a perfect scene that could only be conceived by the mind of a true artist.<p>

Hiro, Sora and Baymax, sitting on the DigiChan Cameras blimp, watched the sunset with strong eyes and placid breaths as the higher levels of the sky turned to dark shades of mauve, then indigo before fading into the darkness that was outer space. To Hiro, watching the sun go down was a frequent pastime with him and Tadashi. With Baymax and Sora in his place, he only had a robot and a young man from another world to share the beauty of the unspoiled, pristine colors of the beauty found within the nature of the atmosphere.

"_There are many colors that make up light, and out of all of them, red is the one that travels the furthest,_" the man Axel told his nobody Roxas through his "shared" memories.

Taking in the colors with hidden excitement, Hiro wobbled his feet smoothly in and out. Baymax looked down at the boy and copied his action slowly and carefully. With their feet locked in a perfect synchronization, the boy and the robot continued to enjoy the beauty of the sunset sky, which was turning pink and the clouds were transforming into a lovely shade of strawberry ice cream that was so tasty and so delicious that no one could reject it's tempting flavor.

As he admired the view, Hiro tried to find the right words for his flight with Baymax.

"That was-"

"Sick," Baymax interrupted.

Hiro and Sora looked up at Baymax with a surprised frown. For the very first time, the former healthcare robot had developed a use of slang and expressionism in his vocabulary (or at least the word "sick" was just the beginning).

Seeing the confusion in their faces, Baymax took the pitch of his voice up by two octaves.

"It is just an expression."

Sora and Hiro chuckled. The younger male slapping the back of his left hand against Baymax's right hip as he stuttered. "That's—that's right, buddy."

He looked back and continued to gaze into the sky. If anyone were to see them from behind, all three were neatly camouflaged with the pink sky by the sun, which decorated the silhouettes of themselves with a rim of red that was as bright as the fading sun itself.

"It's a shame Tadashi had to miss this."

Sora cocked his head at Hiro's direction with a different subject on his mind.

"Hiro…have you thought of a team name?"

"For my friends?" Hiro said as if he could read Sora's mind. "I guess you could call it…"

He thought for a whole minute, and at the last second, the official name came into his mind.

"Big Hero 6."

"For just…" Sora counted his fingers. "You and your friends?"

Hiro nodded.

"Well, since you guys aren't from around here…this is just something for me, Baymax, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey and Fred."

Sora understood, as foreigners, he, Donald, Goofy and Spider-Man's team had no chance of being a part of a native superhero team.

"I am never taking the bus again," he said fatalistically.

After three seconds, Baymax widened his eyes and looked down at Hiro.

"Your emotional state has improved. I can deactivate if you say you are satisfied with your care."

But Hiro had come too far to deactivate Baymax, and even if he could in the present, the robot's luggage was back home on his room.

"I don't want you to deactivate _now_," Hiro said, standing up. "We still have to find Yokai and Big Boy."

He pointed his right thumb down at the earth below. Sora stood up as well, watching the boy as Hiro ordered.

"Fire up the super-sensor."

At Hiro's command, Baymax used his left hand to support himself and stood on his feet. Then with balled fists, his visor glowed a florescent green that turned into a grid system complex that disappeared instantly.

"Functionality improved. One thousand percent increase in range."

From his readout, almost half the population of San Fransokyo came in the form of green figures, male and female, which started from the Financial District to the lower neighborhoods before his patent, represented by a red figure was found…on Akuma Island surrounded by three female figures and twenty six males. Shortly after, Hiro and Sora heard a soft beep.

"I have found a match," Baymax informed them, and he pointed his left index finger to the location. "On that island."

Sora and Hiro looked out into the distance…Akuma Island was about five square miles away from the blimp.

"We'd better get the others," Sora told Hiro, who uttered a quiet "Yeah" and climbing back aboard Baymax, the two males hurried back to Lee Mansion.

On the back porch, Fred had been brainstorming a name for the team as well, unaware that Hiro came up with the name first. The title "Fred's Angels" popped into his head like the title card of the similarly named "Charlie's Angels" from 1976; a crime drama series featuring a trio of strong willed women who used their state-of-the-art combat and high performance vehicles for the greater good. When Baymax arrived at the garden with Hiro and Sora, Go Go was the first to say.

"Well, it's about time."

Hiro and Sora hopped off the newly formed robot warrior, and it was the boy genius who brought forth the breakthrough of the mission.

"We found Yokai and Big Boy—on Akuma Island."

"Glad to hear that, Hiro," Donald answered. "But how do you expect us to get there? I mean, we can't all fit in the Gummi Ship."

Goofy nodded in agreement.

"I can fly too," Nova held his right hand on his chest. "But I don't think I have enough strength to carry my own teammates."

"And my web-shooters are unable to produce a line long enough from here to that island," Spider-Man confessed sadly.

Hiro calculated his party of eleven (twelve including himself). He looked at the S.H.I.E.L.D. rookies, turned his head directly at a confused Sora, then Donald and Goofy, and finally to his friends who were on the ground. The answer came into his head after thirty eight and a half seconds.

"Here's what we'll do: Sora, you go with Donald and Goofy in the Gummi Ship. Nova, you can fly beside us. Spidey, you can form a web chain under Baymax's waist for the rest of your friends to hold onto. Honey and Go Go, you can join me on the wings. Fred and Wasabi, you're taking the gauntlets—and one other thing: hold on tight."

It took the team a minute and six seconds to take their positions: Hiro remained in the middle of Baymax's spine, with Go Go on his right hand side and Honey on his left. Fred's eye pullover was locked in a death grip with Baymax's left gauntlet while Wasabi held on to the right in an indecent position of a bear climbing a tree. Sora took the pilot's seat of the Gummi Ship with Donald's permission and Goofy took the navigator's seat. Nova went first, surrounded by a light blue aura as he defied the law of gravity. Once Baymax was in the air at about eight feet, Spider-Man launched a web line from his left web shooter and quickly jumped to the tail that was attached to Baymax's corset. White Tiger gripped the line behind him, then Power Man in the middle and Iron Fist was dangling over the edge, trying to remain calm and strong with powerful instincts from a long period of training.

The sky was turning indigo as they flew over the harbor and across the first acres of the bay. Hiro's eyes were locked in a deep level of emphasis on the island, bringing in the thought of seeing his brother's murderer suffer at the mercy of his new team and their resilient capabilities. Honey looked nervous, fearful of a long drop into the water as her left hand clung to Baymax's left wing, but Go Go, admiring the concrete beauty of her home city, confessed her enthusiasm with two simple words:

"Killer view."

Hiro turned his eyes at her before ignoring another compliment from his peers. From Baymax's right gauntlet, Wasabi was holding on for dear life with his hands and feet, trying without avail to conceal his cowardice as he grinned a fake smile to Go Go up above.

"If didn't have acrophobia, I'd probably love this!" he shouted rapidly. "But I'm terrified of heights so I don't love it!"

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face against the gauntlet. Fred, who was mentally laughing at the afro's lack of heroism, was currently posing like a regular superhero out of a Green Lantern poster; a smile with his arms and legs wide that quickly changed into a Superman-like posture, with a serious mug on his face, his left arm extended and fingers curled into a fist, his right arm curled under his chest and his legs in a straightforward stance.

_First night out as a superhero and he's already afraid of something! _The comic book expert giggled with pleasure in the caverns of his brain.

When they approached the island, Hiro found the facility he had been looking for from afar. From what he had known about Akuma Island in the past, it had served as an outpost for the United States military and a holdout for weapons and technological research. He was sure that a place like this island was a perfect candidate for the Apparatus to steal as many components as they could find for whatever they were building.

Hiro pointed to the landing pad with his left index finger.

"Down there!" he called to Baymax. "Take us in!"

They circled once around the island and came to the landing area that was secluded by a wired fence. Spider-Man and his team hanging from the web landed first and Baymax took an upwards position, followed by Fred, who was dancing excitedly to catch the villains. Baymax then lowered his left gauntlet to let Honey, Hiro and Go Go down while Wasabi remained glued to Baymax's right hand. His eyes were still shut before realized that his feet were on solid ground—concrete ground to be exact.

"Awesome!" Fred cried with zeal as Nova and the Gummi Ship landed next to them. "Our first landing together as a team."

There was nothing else in the area besides the entrance to a white colored facility, three crates, six piles of sleepers and twenty four oil drums that were rusted with age and sea-air conditions. Hiro kept the lower half of his body on steady feet and so did Honey who remained silent as he whispered "Come on," to the others, but Wasabi kept his eyes on another object of curiosity…or concern. His field of vision was locked on a yellow sign which read "CAUTION Quarantine Area" in a black bold font. Next to it on the fence of his left hand side was another sign which had the word "Quarantine" on the bottom. Above the words were a pair of deadly looking crossbones and a menacing skull that would have frightened the poor afro to the core.

"Do any of you know what 'quarantine' means?" Wasabi asked as he directed his right thumb at the sign.

Baymax, as per usual, lifted his right index finger to answer Wasabi's question.

"Quarantine. A forced isolation to prevent contamination that could lead to disease or in some cases…death."

"Really?" Wasabi asked as if he was teaching a classroom of infants. "What about that skull and crossbones over there?!"

"Oh shut your damn mouth and be on your guard," White Tiger sheathed her left claw at him in a threatening demeanor.

"Careful, guys," Hiro whispered back to them. "They could be anywhere."

They stood in front of the metal door to the facility for a second or two before the silence was broken by the sound of a twig snapping. Sora, standing behind Baymax, saw Honey reach into her purse as did Go Go with her disks. Not willing to have the team waste their energy, Sora motioned his right hand in a defensive gesture.

"Wait," he said quietly.

His blue eyes looked over his left shoulder, the light in his right hand materialized into the Kingdom Key, he spun around—and the tip of his Keyblade was three inches away from the beak of a female pigeon—a very brave pigeon who cocked her head at the sight of the ridiculously dressed human beings.

Now this pigeon had gone out of the nest to feed her babies, assuming that the landing pad on Akuma Island was flat enough to capture a large sum of worms. When she saw Hiro and his friends landing on the island, the pigeon became rather curious and thoughtful of these brightly colored creatures called "humans". She decided to get a closer look from a nearby tree, but the branch she was sitting on had grown fragile from old age and snapped a quick three seconds after her toes gripped the thin branch, forcing her to drop safely onto the ground.

When Sora realized his mistake, he confessed what would have been an embarrassing scene to the team with a shy, "Oh, it's a pigeon."

The mother pigeon cooed confusingly as her head remained cocked to the right side by six degrees. Then she flew off back to nest with some interesting news to tell her children at dinnertime.

"Bye, bird," Donald waved back. His smile was warm, and Sora and Goofy could tell that, as a duck, Donald was very friendly to his own kind, even if they intimidated him. Hiro, on the other hand, did not tolerate any chance to stop and smell the roses. He was hell-bent on bringing Tadashi's killers to the iron fist of justice, and maybe this time, Big Boy Caprice would be getting the life sentence he deserved after using his anorexia to guilt trip the warden of Alcatraz into filing his release forms.

"At least we know how to be careful next time," Honey giggled.

"Now to open this door," said Iron Fist, summoning his chi and focusing it into his left hand.

He reached all the way back and asserted himself, but the result only left a crater in the door handle. He tried again, this time with his right hand that delivered a powerful bow that sent the door flying right off the hinges. They all peered inside to see a dark hallway lit by fluorescent bulbs, with steel walls and streamlined fixtures. As the heroes were completely inside the hall with no other source of light from the outside world, Fred took an inopportune time to (quietly) sing his own anthem for the team.

_Six intrepid friends lead by Fred, _

_Their leader, Fred. _

_Fred's Angels, m-m-m. _

_Fred's Angels, m-m-m. _

_Harnessing the power of the sun _

_With the ancient amulet they found in the attic. _

_M-m-m. _

_The amulet is green._

_M-m-m. _

_It's probably an emerald._

But Wasabi, who felt that Fred tone-deaf, had enough. He seethed through his teeth, glaring at the concealed nerd with a knife hand.

"Fred, if you don't shut up, I'm gonna laser hand you in the ass!"

Hiro ignored them as he turned to his robot.

"Any sign of them Baymax?"

In his readout, the red figures appeared to come from all directions.

"This structure is interfering with my sensor," Baymax admitted. "It may be due to low wi-fi."

But they were saved of any trouble of looking for the villains, when Honey heard a whisper of voices that seemed to be coming from the door next her. One of them had a gruff voice, supposedly belonging to Big Boy Caprice. The other voice was new, something that was foreign to Honey, but still sounding American.

"So tell me again, what we plan to do with this junk?"

"It's simple. Once we get rid of Tracy, the whole city's gonna clear out for us…young folks."

Curious, she peered through the crack of the door. Sure enough, there was Big Boy talking with a heavy built brunette in a green striped t-shirt.

"Guys," she whispered. "It's Big Boy."

In the room that lay on the other side of the door, Big Boy's misdirected vision caught a quick glimpse of Honey's left eye and sensed danger, he turned to Marko and put his right arm over his back. They walked over to the other criminals, and most of them were already gone by the time Honey had slid the door open all the way. She went in first, followed by Wasabi, then Go Go, Hiro, Sora, Baymax, Fred, Spider-Man and the remaining six members of the team.

Whatever it was, the objects in the room appeared to be the remains of an old roller-coaster, with a track that was completely frayed and ended going up in a straight position. At the end of the room were a pair of crooked balconies and on their right was a thirty foot tall ring. Titanium steel walls filled the room from above and then went down to the ground floor of the facility. Florescent lights shined over the opposite end of the complex, giving the atmosphere a non-photo blue tinge of eeriness.

"What do you think it is?" Go Go asked Hiro.

In spite of his IQ number of 155, Hiro was uncertain.

"I don't know…but look."

He pointed his left index finger at the red and white logo below them. It was the same logo depicting the sparrow he had seen at the Naval Shipyard that Yokai had recovered from the sea.

"I wonder what's in here," Sora gestured Hiro to what looked like a control panel sitting in the middle end on their side of the complex. The interior of the panel was lit with a crimson beam of light that faded into the darkness. They walked over to the door and Nova, making sure that it was not locked or anything else, opened it and the others peered curiously into the empty panel. There no sounds, not even a whisper of Big Boy's crew from the other side, and if there was, it was only sight and inaudible. Five empty chairs watched over the dormant controls and the glass appeared to have been completely shattered from an explosion of sorts.

As Hiro placed his left foot into the room, Power Man, who was all the way in the back of the party of twelve, turned to Iron Fist.

"See anything Danny?"

Iron Fist waited until they were inside.

"It looks clear...to me."

Seeing that there was no one around to attack them, not even by surprise, Hiro clicked left side bottom of his helmet, sending his crystal clear visor up into the helmet. His face was illuminated by a deep scarlet computer screen which displayed the sparrow logo in a funeral parlor shade of black. The computer screen itself appeared to be over twenty two feet tall, a bit larger than Fred's Ultra HD television screen.

_Let's see what this has in store for us. _Hiro moved his right hand over the wide keyboard, his index finger pressed the "6" button and the screen went from blood-red to sky blue within a split second. The sparrow symbol also went from black to white as well before it was replaced by nine screens; each one presenting a different perspective on the recorded events of what had been chronicled in the early days of this facility.

On the top middle screen was a still-frame of Alistair Krei, leaning his hands over the controls with a panicked look on his face. In the background stood his assistant Alice while a general in a navy blue suit and medals on both sides of his chest stood in the foreground.

"Krei," was all Hiro said, in the far background was another figure.

"Tadashi?"

"How come he didn't tell us about this?" Honey asked quizzically.

"Top secret information," Fred added. "Seen it a million times."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has top secret info," Spider-Man turned to face them. "I even had several unauthorized opportunities to look through them."

"Like the island I picked," Nova uttered quietly out of an unneeded reminder.

But nobody heard his voice when Hiro pressed the rewind button and the screens of each camera were going back to the very moment were the moment of interest began.

He stopped on "Portal Track 03", which showed Krei, an entourage of two women, an executive businessman and the general (named Hammond from a close inspection of his tag) walking smoothly towards the ring on the left hand side. Compared to what it looked today, the facility was in a pristine, crystal clear condition and the two rings were intact, with eight red lights attached to every angle of an octagon. The walls were non-photo blue and rest of the interior was sleek and futuristic in almost every way possible.

"That's right Hammond," Krei's voice came from the video. "We were asked to do the implausible: reinventing the very concept of transportation. Friends, I present Project Silent Sparrow."

In the screen labeled "Portal Track 1", Krei stood before his small audience in front of the large ring. Holding out his left arm, the interior of the rings were filled with a glowing blue mass of what some might call a dimensional rift. Honey and Go Go gazed at each other for a second before returning to the screen. The movements of the two girls distracted White Tiger out of incessant curiosity, while the former condition of the facility reminded her of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center from _Portal_.

"We developed an artificial wormhole that links two regions of space and thus succeed in creating a time-space tunnel that allows for instantaneous travel. General Hammond, may I have your cap please?"

Hammond surrendered his hat from his head, placing into Krei's right hand and flinged it like a Frisbee into the substance, which created a ripple and the sound of a bubbly whoosh—coming out from the other side and into the waiting hands of a man in a white coat and hard hat who stood from a yellow scissor lift with an orange deck. He waved the hat over to Hammond, who was standing on the other side, with his left hand.

"Oh. My. God," Fred exclaimed. "It's a magic hat."

"That's no magic hat, _gilipollas,_" Sam spoke offensively."It's a trans dimensional portal."

Honey, understanding Nova's obscene insult, darted her angry eyes at him as quick as a fox before going back to the screen. From the bottom right corner, she could have sworn to have seen a slightly black haired Professor Robert Callaghan embracing a young woman with chestnut brown hair locked in a ponytail.

In the video, the man in white twisted himself backwards for a strong force of push and threw the navy blue cap back into the portal on his side where it came to the left ring. It landed into Krei's hands before he made his conclusion, handing the cap back to General Hammond as he spoke.

"Teleportation. The transport of matter instantaneously through space. Science fiction has become a reality."

Every member of Big Hero 6's eyes were locked on Krei at every angle.

"It appears I made a wise decision when we invited you and your colleagues to work at our facility," Hammond replied.

"Yes," Krei reciprocated in acceptance. "But we didn't spend billions of tax dollars just to teleport caps. I believe that this invention can do wonderful things for our country. We can use it for transporting goods and materials or even for space travel. I think it will be a great help to people all over the world. After two separate experiments involving a dog and a monkey, the portal is now ready for human testing. Our data shows a 100% guarantee of success."

He pressed a call button on the console.

"Ready to go for a ride Abigail?"

A muffled voice could have been heard saying "You're going to be a part of the moment of the century," before the said woman whose name was Abigail sat down in a capsule that was a small as, but more sleek and futuristic looking than an Apollo command module. Abigail was slender with blue eyes; she wore a paper-white skin-tight outfit with red accents and white armor on her chest and shoulders, along with a matching helmet. On the left side of her helmet was her last name, printed in blood red with all caps, but none of the team members had any foresight to look carefully into this particular little detail.

"We've invited all these people," Abigail said, pressing three buttons above her with right index finger. "We might as well give them a show to remember."

"T-minus thirty seconds to launch," a female voice spoke over the P.A. "Twenty nine, twenty eight…"

In "Pod Camera 01" which focused entirely on Abigail from her transport, the woman was looking nervous as she pressed another three buttons on the opposite side with her left index finger. She looked down at the rail that would send her into the portal and so did the team members watching "Portal Track 03". The capsule jerked to a stop as the countdown reached twenty seven.

"Capsule is in position," Abigail announced.

Abigail took a deep breath as she was about to become a household name (or so she thought). The rail buckled by an inch, then like a drop tower, the capsule surged at a speed of thirty miles an hour directly into the portal. But before Krei could his chance for an applause, of the technician, a young short-haired brunette named Lester, raised his left hand to Krei's chest, gaining his attention.

"Sir, we seem to be picking up a slight irregularity in the magnetic field."

Whatever it was, it was something only the occupants in the footage could see, for the group's point of view was obstructed by the back of the monitor himself. Krei looked at the situation on the screen as another technician with black hair and small glasses by the name of Howell curiously peered at the screen from his side of the control room, which was on Lester's right hand side.

"Probably, just a spike," he muttered before directly addressing Hammond. "Don't worry George, it will soon stabilize. It's well within the parameters, and all we can do is wait for our test subject."

And so it did, but before Krei could get another chance for an applause, an alarm started to ring.

"The anomaly is growling larger!" shouted Howell.

As Krei looked over the confusion, the left side of the right ring began to shimmy just as the nose of the capsule appeared, but the black metal of the ring turned to gold and red as it burned to create a bright light and exploded into a roar and a burst of flames that propelled the capsule much too fast than what the scientists and technicians had expected with the previous experiments. The pod slammed to the floor in a scream of tortured metal and crashed into the wall, ending the catastrophe with the sound of breaking glass and a completely inaudible "snap".

The others watched with genuine reactions of horror as a technician, Tadashi, rushed out of the control room to retrieve the pilot.

"_Oh, Dios mío, esto es terrible,_" said Honey in a shaken voice as she performed the sign of the cross.

Krei in the video sensed danger too, for a low rumble sufficed the facility. Matters began to spin out of control as various pieces of debris and equipment were sucked into the right portal like a fusion reactor gone bad into a magnetic terror of chaos. Two cameras and the very end of the track to the right portal were sucked in as well and the control room seemed to oscillate violently from the containment breach of the explosion.

"SHUT IT DOWN NOW!" howled Hammond.

Krei pressed the corresponding buttons on the console where Lester was sitting. The blue substance faded and the debris fell to the floor in scattered heaps of rubbish.

"I want this island sealed off and abandoned permanently!" Hammond shouted.

Having seen enough, Hiro stopped the video at that moment, although a curious Honey Lemon wanted another look at the man who appeared to be her late teacher. For such events involving digital media, she always carried a junk drive in her purse. As she placed the drive into the mainframe, copying most, if not all of its contents, Sora re-summarized the events recorded in the footage.

"So the government shut down Krei's experiment and now he's using your microbots to steal back his machine…" he paused for a concessive conclusion, holding his hands out as he did. "Why?"

Before anyone else could come up with a supposition, there came a loud voice that derived from the other entrance of the control room shouting, "Reach for the ceiling! All of you!"

The gang turned around. It was Flattop, wearing a bright red double breasted suit and indigo bowtie, the same black boots and gloves and was carrying his Thompson in both hands with the mannerisms of a serial killer. He fired twenty bullets into the ceiling, forcing the gang to duck out of force of habit. He came closer to confront the group; but Hiro, wanting to test his armor, kept on his hands and knees and his left hand delivered a strong uppercut that sent the Tommy gun out of Flattop's hands.

"Bet you didn't know my gloves were strong enough to break through cement, didn't you?" Hiro addressed everyone present.

He turned to face Flattop in an aggressive state of mind, pushing himself against his personal boundary.

"Tell me, how well do you know that your employer under the Kabuki mask is Alistair Krei?"

Flattop darted his eyes at the pre-teen.

"I have no idea who he is. Never even took his mask off," his glare turned into a baleful smirk. "But since you're here, why don't you ask him…yourself."

The team turned and followed direction of Flattop's open left hand. There was Yokai, looming above them in a Darth Vader-like atmosphere of formidable proportions. The (literally) crooked criminal Big Boy stood on his right and the doyenne of Club Ritz herself, Breathless Mahoney, stood on his left. All three were covered from the waist down in a black mass of microbots, while the remaining members of the Apparatus stood below them. Flint Marko was also using his sand to reach Yokai's level, his arms and the lower half of his body covered in malleable sand. Flattop ran down the stairs out of harm's way to join Crewy Lou and Itchy, who were standing at the base of Yokai's microbot pile.

"I have the strangest feeling about this guy," Spider-Man squinted. Then it hit him like a lightbulb going off after a split-second of deduction; he remembered the sandy island where they spent their vacation, and it had seemed that there was a good reason why the island itself was filled under a classification section.

"You and the rest of your freaky friends have just said good-bye to oxygen!" Big Boy shouted from above.

"Says you and your gang!" Fred responded childishly.

The words struck Big Boy as though a bullet from his gun misfired and struck his lungs. He whipped out his Colt 1911 and yelled. "NOBODY CALLS ME THAT!"

He turned to Yokai.

"SIC 'EM!"

Yokai, having excavated a twenty five foot slab of cement from the floor while the heroes were watching the video manipulated the microbots to hurl it right at the control room, it smashed through the window, destroying the controls in its path and possibly them itself as Baymax held his hands out, hoping to push it back with no success.

"Strike," Big Boy clapped his hands condescendingly.

Yokai turned his body counterclockwise to face the remnants of the portal, intent on stealing the right ring which was still intact and still functional to serve in his grand plan. Afterwards he would use the microbots to generate the electricity, as the portal was constructed to serve as portable device for any occasion prior to the mishaps that occurred.

Under the rubble, Honey coughed as Baymax used the visor of his helmet to illuminate the darkness of the claustrophobic situation the team was currently in while his hands held the slab to his back, trying to gain balance. Hiro looked up at Baymax, frightened as though he had seen a ghost. Wasabi and Go Go exchanged glances of relief and Sora asked, "Donald? Goofy? Are you okay?"

"We're fine!" Goofy and Donald were struggling to liberate themselves from the rubble and so were Spider-Man and his team of rookies. Hiro command his robot loud and clear as Power Man tried his own way to lift the debris: by pushing it back up.

"Baymax! Throw it back at him!"

Baymax complied, however, he used his rocket fist, which broke through the block and reached all the way to the ceiling, catching the attention of Yokai, Big Boy and Breathless as the microbots crawled onto the remnants of the left ring, attaching it. They turned and watched the glove hover in the air for second, then came back into the magnetic grip of Baymax's right wrist, where it found itself in the company of fourteen heroes, ready for action to take the grotesque criminals of their fair city.

"Go for the transmitter behind his mask!" Hiro shouted like he was directing a football team…and it felt good considering his sense of leadership. But Big Boy could only verbally translate Yokai's reaction of annoyance.

"Oh, what the fu-just get them already!"

The criminals and Sandman screamed like whooping Native Americans as they hoisted their firearms high above their heads, preparing to fire every ounce of lead and sand at their will. Yokai brought a scoopful of microbots to the palm of his right hand, then after lifting it up, shot the microbots forward at the speed of a rushing river in the straightforward direction of the heroes, but Baymax picked up a five foot chunk of the already-destroyed slab and used it as shield, hoping to the defect the nanobots. But the stream that Yokai had sent rushed through the middle of the concrete at a tremendous pace, bisecting the piece and sending the ex-nurse bot flying backwards on a throne of fragments. A scintilla of dust peppered the heroes, but it wasn't enough to blind their visors to the point of irremediable damage.

Hiro moved his arms hastily over the rubble, shouting the robot's name as he leaped over the trifling wall of concrete and as he climbed, nearly making his way to Baymax, Wasabi asked, "So what's the plan?"

"We get the transmitter behind his mask like Hiro said," Sora summoned his Keyblade and ran off to the bottom with Donald and Goofy following.

With a smirk of bullishness, Fred pulled the top eye onto his head before uttering, "It's Fred time." He ran towards Yokai, shouting "SUPER JUMP!" as he used his pogo hydraulics to perform a nine foot leap. He held his arms out as the crooks prepared to fire, shouting "GRAVITY CRUSH!", but a barrage of microbots from left struck his tail, defying gravity even further as Fred remembered another move from the various football games he would watch, live and on TV.

"Falling haaaaaaard!"

As Fred fell into a superfluous area irradiated by red lights, Big Boy made small chuckle and so did Yokai, but it did not reach his ears. Frantic, Wasabi asked again, "Seriously what's the plan?"

"Get the mask," Go Go's face went uber-serious as she activated the visor.

"I know that," Wasabi said as Go Go, White Tiger and Honey left for the battlefield. "But specifically for real, WHAT ARE THE EXACT DETAILS OF THE GODDAMM PLAN?!"

"I'm right behind you!" Honey shouted after Go Go, readying her right hand with a chem-ball.

Go Go used the remains of the capsule track and catwalk to fling her right disk at Yokai as Big Boy and his cronies fired away at the color of her armor, reminding them too much of Dick Tracy and his signature chic attire. In return, Yokai lifted his right hand at another beam of microbots at her just as jumped and her feet landed on the other side of the ruined track. The disk came back to her and she found herself flying among the walls close to Sandman as he and Yokai shot rectangular blocks of sand and microbots at her, forming an odd looking staircase as her altitude elevated with the velocity of her body. Yokai's second attempt to strike her was intercepted by the ferocious White Tiger, who fell to the floor and slipped immediately into catalepsy.

"What sandbox did you crawl out of?" the jaunty voice of Spider-Man had to confirm his suspicions about this human sand pile that was obviously misunderstood.

Sandman turned and saw the masked face of Spider-Man flying directly towards him from a web line. The wildly gyrating Go Go Tomago was quickly replaced by a human arachnid going through his body. Sandman instantly reacted, extending the right arm of his hammer fist and grabbing Spider-Man, catapulting him towards Nova, Iron Fist and Power Man. Nova flew out of the way, but Luke and Danny weren't so lucky, they were pummeled to the floor by a screaming Spidey.

"I never knew a bunch of kids would be so retarded to break me out of a prison surrounded by water," Sandman gloated.

No one bothered to ask further questions, not even the pre-informed Big Boy, whose cobalt colored hat and Persian lamb overcoat were turning Colombia blue from the bright lighting of the facility. At the point she spun her body two times upon impacting the ground, Go Go tossed her right disk directly at Yokai, striking him square in the nose. Go Go was certain that such a blow could have easily torn his mask off, but it was slightly crooked by an inch. Re-adjusting himself and his mask, Yokai ushered a chilling warning through his distorted voice.

"_I show no mercy to any who stand in my way!_"

But Go Go ignored him, she jumped over another pillar of microbots and landed at the floor level of the gun-toting convicts. Texie Garcia chambered a shell into her Mauser Broomhandle and fired away, but the amount of lead carried by all thirty criminals combined were no match for the bulletproof fabric and armor of the suits. With her disk returning to her, Yokai, Big Boy and a stiff Breathless jumped to the floor, caught by the large molehill of microbots as the other criminals moved quickly out of the way. Flattop responded by firing a wild volley of .38 bullets at her, yet the amount of absence in training his aiming skill had taken its toll.

Once Nova circled around Sandman, hoping to confuse his wits down by a maximum amount of befuddlement, Honey jumped down to aid Go Go as Yokai and the criminals chased and fired away at her. She dropped the pink chemball she had been holding in her right hand and splashed down behind a pillar into a gelatinous mass that turned lemon chiffon upon impact then quickly darkened into an ice blue color, allowing her to a make safe landing from a six feet jump.

She ducked behind the pillar closest to her for cover, then stepped out towards another, watching Flattop let his Tommy gun rip with jejune insanity. With heaving breaths, she stepped behind a third column and typed the chemicals to create a sky blue colored chemball that landed in her right hand. She was about to throw it at Yokai when her entrance was blocked by the clicking of a gun and a thin figure with a pale face and a French blue bowtie pointing it between her eyes. It was Sketch Paree with a SIG-Sauer P226.

"_Avez-vous des problèmes, mademoiselle?_" he asked with a sinister smile.

Honey thrusted her right foot at his chin and with his head wobbling on both sides, he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Go Go, meanwhile was running away from Yokai at the speed of a rollercoaster, and Nova, who had been circling Sandman for twenty seconds, was finally knocked into unconsciousness by the living pile of shingle who used his left hand to swat Nova like a fly. He crashed into the titanium steel walls and fell to the floor with no broken bones, though he did however, suffer a severe headache from the impact and a cringe worthy "ow" to go with it.

Sora rushed over to Nova, but as he jumped safely down to the lower level on his feet, he was blocked by Itchy with his Thompson M1 and an old excuse that was as tempting as fate itself.

"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would you?"

"No, but I can do _this_!" and Sora reciprocated by striking Itchy's head with the tip of his Keyblade. He ran over to Nova, helping him up while Donald and Goofy went back for Hiro and Baymax, who was still struggling to liberate himself from the debris.

"Hello sailor," was what Go Go said to Pruneface once she passed him.

She raced up the wall, and when she was about three feet above the floor she spun around in a 360 degree turn and flung her right disk at him. Yokai stepped out of the way as the disk struck Pruneface's forehead, knocking the criminals and those standing behind him, Influence, Mole and Spots to the floor. The disk continued on to strike Honey Lemon's visor and bounced off, causing her to throw the chemball in an unexpected reflex and it crashed to the floor before Go Go could see it as she raced down the wall, foolishly slipping her fast wheels in a puddle of ice blue oil and fell on her rear end, sliding on her spine. Honey, who saw her coming, quickly lifted her left foot, but Go Go's crotch had made contact with her right one, sending her to the floor like the weak sort of women most males enjoyed to perceive one as.

"Well, that takes care of the girls," Big Boy chuckled to Breathless, who was given a cocky smile in return.

"You wanna dance, mothafucker?" came a voice. Yokai turned to see the source: Wasabi.

"You talkin' to me?" Big Boy placed his hands on his coat for emphasis.

"Yeah, I'm talkin' to you, asswipe!" Wasabi shouted back in a rather crude behavior. Big Boy was confused until the dark skinned man spoke again.

"You wanna dance, masked man? Cause, you'all gonna be dancing to these!"

Bouncing around to prove his point, Wasabi activated his plasma blades, which he held with both arms up.

"Hand over the mask or you'll get a taste of _THIS!_"

The Blank wielding a Colt Model 1903 in his right hand, fired a bullet was quickly sliced into two pieces by Wasabi swishing his left hand in a 90 degree turn. The other criminals fired off their guns in return and so did Yokai with eighteen arms of microbots, but no matter how hard they tried, Wasabi was too fast for them. Using his memories of dance lessons for battle stances, Wasabi flung his hands to the left, right, sideways, slantways, and front ways eight different times. Hiro and Sora, who had managed to free Baymax from the rubble, watched him from afar. It seemed to all three of them, that his blades were the most useful in destroying the microbots.

At last, after resting his arms, spread apart from each other, Wasabi had one last crack to pull before he could expect another wave of lead and microbots. He chuckled at the success of his weapons, admiring them as he hunched his torso, imitating Big Boy.

"Is that all you got?"

The answer to his question came in the form of a crawling feeling that covered his shoes to his ankles followed by a lasso rope of undulating microbots that wrapped around his throat, choking his Adam's apple in the process as he was thrown forcefully to the right.

Fred, who had been climbing his way through the ventilation shaft (which was surprisingly large enough for his suit to fit), came rocketing out of the grate as Donald and Goofy landed on opposite sides to support the cause. Donald was Fred's right, balancing his staff. Goofy was on Fred's left, hiding his face with his shield.

"Back into the fire!" the comic book nerd shouted with a river of flames spewing out of his mouth.

But before he could take action, Wasabi flew into Donald, creating a domino effect that pushed against Fred and Goofy. The three victims were thrown off their feet and slid across the ice laced floor towards the girls, who had regained their own feet while Wasabi was fighting off the microbots and the bullets. They were piled pel mel in a small corner off to the right side of the room, and Coffyhead, tea-cupping his Smith and Wesson Model 36, was about to fire before Laffy Smith held him back.

"The lead's useless," he told his peers.

"That's the brightest thing I ever heard you say," Coffyhead smiled, but Pear-Shape, cross-thumbing his Olympic Arms OA-93 with a 90 round drum, held his arms forth at the victims. They were just about standing up when Yokai created a fourteen foot rectangular hammer of microbots, and it was large enough to squash the whole team, if not kill them repeatedly by hammering the hapless heroes. Sora watched from afar and quickly brought his Keyblade glider into the air just as Hiro had finally freed Baymax from the concrete.

The whole time, as Breathless remained on her perch of microbots with her hands on her hips, quietly singing "Nobody but Me" by The Human Beinz to herself, she saw what looked like a flying missile coming straight towards her. It was Sora on the glider, followed by Hiro and Baymax, who charged at Big Boy, shouting "Leave them alone!" But Yokai jabbed his right arm, creating a large pillar that pushed Baymax to ceiling, jolting Hiro off the robot while Sora kept charging at Yokai, having been thrown off guard by Hiro's distraction. Hiro flailed his body over the Kabuki man, his head butting into the mask and so did Sora, who ran into Breathless. The impact somewhat disabled the microbots, causing all five to plummet through the seamless body of Sandman to the steel floor.

Breathless landed at the threshold of a staircase, watching Hiro and Lord Deathstrike rolling down the stairs to the lowest area of the facility while Big Boy landed on his head about six feet away from the two. Sora, who had fallen at the bottom of the stairs, watched Hiro using his hand to stand himself up, slowly approaching Yokai with calm, patient and vengeful steps.

Bracing themselves for the end, Honey, Go Go, Fred, Wasabi, Goofy and Donald waited to be crushed, but the microbots fell like heavy raindrops. The other criminals turned to their fallen leader and Sandman, who had been disoriented from Nova spinning around him about a minute ago, shrunk down to his normal size, restoring his human appearance as he tried to recover from the distraction. Spider-Man and his friends were still down for the count, lying there with idea of what was happening around them.

Hiro moved toward the insensate Yokai, squeezing his fists as he murmured, "I hope you can understand the pain that you have caused me."

He stepped right up to the body and gripped the mask with his right hand, knowing that he had to be quick.

"It's over, Krei."

Then, ever so slightly, he pulled the mask off…


	13. The Professor and his Daughter

…to reveal the face of Professor Robert Callaghan.

"Professor Callaghan?!" Hiro's eyes went wide with the quiet realization, while his friends looked on with similar looks. Honey's lips were concealed with her left hand, Wasabi and Go Go stared with open mouths and Fred, looking through the top eye of his suit, gritted his teeth in fear. Sora who had also arrived at the scene was just about as flustered as Big Boy, whose own reaction was a simple, "I knew there was something screwy about you. That you had to hide something that was indecent and amoral."

"It wasn't very easy," Callaghan spoke in his normal voice for the first time in a month.

Hiro looked into the mask; sure enough the transmitter was there along with a voice changer that was displaced at a deep pitch.

"The explosion…" Hiro stuttered. "You died."

Callaghan shook his head no three times over.

"Actually, that was my doing," he confessed. "I took a gambit by knowing that one of the inventions presented at the showcase would be valuable to my plan. For the occasion of that event, the interior of the showcase hall was repainted. The paint was flammable, but it dried before I could take action, so I planted seven explosive charges behind the floodlights and disabled one of the pipes to the gas tanks in the ceiling with my pliers when nobody was around. I even spilled small amounts of thermite on the floor and painted the lower halves of the walls with kerosene that same night before the showcase. Once you and your friends left, I went to the back of one of the stages, got out my vial of liquid hydrogen, threw it to the tank and you get a big fire from the heat that spreads to the thermite and kerosene that nobody ever dared to look where it came from. The charges helped to conceal the source. I also planted a bomb under the stage that was powerful enough to produce an explosion that could wipe out any evidence that the fire was set intentionally."

Breathless suddenly remembered. She leaned her mouth closer to Big Boy's right ear and whispered, "Told ya there was a bomb."

"After I set the fire," Callaghan continued. "I used the microbots to dig my way underground where I came the surface just a few yards away, enough for me to escape the premises and leave for home, where I got this outfit and this mask as a souvenir from the theater company. As I predicted during the event, Flattop and his own gang brought the materials they stole from the lab to the warehouse where I had been living for the past month. I also used Breathless to steal the microbot plans during the showcase and it was she who brought them to me at the right place."

Hiro looked at Mahoney's guilty face of a tattered beauty. He did not bother to interrogate her during his search, for she belonged to enemy territory, where Hiro had a small chance of escaping with his life. Turning back to Callaghan, he asked.

"What did you wish to gain from being assumed dead?"

"Faking my death allowed me to manufacture the microbots at a continuous pace without arising suspicion. Had I done this at the college, someone would start to wonder why I was going through so much raw material or why I was producing so many of these bots. This way, I can get to my goal faster and have Big Boy and his 'merry men' steal small supplies of materials from all over the city."

Big Boy fumed.

"So all this time you've been usin' us as pawns?!"

"I had to be inconspicuous. Your army was all I needed. But it was your own methods that brought me and Tadashi into your façade in the first place, and you were the only person I could trust…despite my personal objections."

Hiro's mind was starting to race with a cavalcade of questions.

"You and Tadashi-? You were with Big Boy?"

"Right after he got out of prison three years ago, thanks to an appeal from his lawyer requesting that he'd be released on account of his health. He was so thin that he was begging to use my intelligence for his own purposes. I was doubtful until he claimed that he had been reformed. Tadashi and Krei were also curious to his new outlook on life, so I asked them if they were interested, they said 'yes', and while we were spending a lot of our time at Club Ritz with the guys, it turns out that we were all part of some money-laundering act."

"Actually, I prefer the word 'charity'," Big Boy corrected, making ersatz quotes under his voice of deception.

Sora vocally barged in, curious for a specific cause. "What kind of laundering act?" he asked.

"Big Boy was desperate to reconstruct the Apparatus, so he reconstructed some of his assets to commit robberies," Callaghan continued. "His hired men, at the time including Flattop, Mumbles, B-B Eyes, Shaky, Crewy Lou, Texie, and Ribs, would steal various amounts of cash and give it to us, thinking that the police would have a ton of difficulty tracking it down. But I was the only one who looked through his charade, so I decided it was over and I gave Tadashi my half of the money with some of his own to build Baymax."

Big Boy scowled at this reminder, but Hiro could tell that with every word Callaghan spoke, there was something else that the professor did not dare to mention. Something so furtive, that it was buried deep in the back of his mind.

"And I had you all marked for death for going against me," Caprice's frown turned into a smirk of satisfaction. "But thanks to you, I thought, that the fire last month had given me a risk cure."

Hiro had wondered where Tadashi had gotten the wad of money from that one night, but another question, a more imperative one, was crossing his mind. His voice was starting to break as he asked.

"If you caused the fire…then what about Tadashi? Did you let him die?"

But instead of a solid answer, Callaghan extended his right hand at Hiro with an offering gesture.

"Give me the mask, Hiro-" Callaghan growled like a wild dog, but Hiro held the mask in his own right hand, extending it towards his back and out of Callaghan's grasp as he said through gritted teeth.

"Not until I get answers. Did my brother die trying to save you from your wickedness, or did you kill him?"

Callaghan took three steps in front of Hiro, his eyes fixed on the mask. But his frame of mind went from angry to practical as he confessed in a doctorial voice.

"Actually that was his own mistake. God knows what would have happened if I kidnapped him, and even if I did spare his life, he would have betrayed me the same way he betrayed Big Boy. So I decided to kill him—"

His right hand reached into his left vest pocket.

"—with this."

He presented the murder weapon: a chrome plated Colt 1911 with black rubber grips.

Hiro's mouth went dry. The size of the gun's barrel was all beginning to make sense to him. The big splotch on Tadashi's forehead was a gunshot wound and the bullet was lodged so deep into his frontal lobe that the undertaker couldn't get it out without having to ruin the corpse completely. It was no wonder why Tadashi's cause of death had not been classified as _murder_ instead of a sacrifice that all had been done for _nothing_…

_Nothing…_

_Nothing…_

_Nothing…_

_Nothing…_

_NOTHING!_

The word "nothing" echoed in Hiro's head so many times. Without even asking Callaghan for the core root of his plan, he began to see that Tadashi had no reason to die, Big Boy's mark having been written off in his mental library as an act of pure evil and Callaghan (as he was looking at him right now) was the embodiment of pure evil that needed to be extinguished…rather _killed_, and be _banished_ to the fires of Hell.

Hiro frowned at Callaghan, which turned into a glare, which turned into anger before it finally collapsed into an irreversible frenzy of rage, revenge, hatred and the sadistic pleasure of seeing other people suffer at his hands. Then like a cheetah, he leaped at Callaghan with open hands and grabbed for his throat, completely choking him and forcing the poor bastard to drop the gun out of his hand that grew weak from the suffering that followed. The professor coughed and wheezed as his windpipe began to close, his breathing grew slower, his tongue slacked, his glands swelled and he was starting to tremble as Hiro screamed in his face.

"You sick bastard, I NEARLY COMMITTED SUICIDE BECAUSE OF YOU! _DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TADASHI MEANT TO ME?!_ _**DID YOU?!**_"

Through his gagging, Callaghan found his inner strength and gained the upper hand, distracting Hiro with a taunting, but cold-hearted message that only increased the boy genius' rage.

"Why should I? I never cared for that boy anyway. He never understood me. Neither of you did."

His hands gripped onto Hiro's wrists as he spoke, and like a strongman trying to bend the steel bars of a celled window, Callaghan held Hiro by his hands. The teen struggled to break free, but was losing his métier and his motivation from every single word the mad professor poured into his ears. He felt himself being thrown to the wall like a rag doll and his body collapsed to the floor. When he got up, Hiro's face went redder than the lights illuminating his face, his eyes locked on Callaghan and his expression meant only one thing in his large brain: _Time to use the big guns._

Baymax, who had liberated himself from the ceiling by pushing his way out, flew to his master's aid. Hiro greeted the robot with a face of revulsion, pointing his left index finger at the robotics scientist turned criminal mastermind.

"Baymax, kill this sick bastard and when you're finished with him, DUMP HIM IN THE SEA!"

Callaghan was surprised, but Big Boy was looking cheerful. He was looking forward to seeing his ill-received death on the traitor come true.

"Well, it was nice knowing you, Rob."

Hiro turned the finger at him. He did not wish to leave any witnesses, and because of Big Boy's premature release from prison, he too was going to pay the price…with a macabre result.

"You too, Caprice."

He pointed at Breathless, remembering her role in stealing the microbots for Callaghan.

"And you."

He pointed to Flattop.

"And you!"

He waved the finger at the criminals staring at him from behind their leader.

"And all of you will pay for your crimes…_**in blood!**_"

Baymax tried to calm the boy.

"My programming prevents me from physically injuring or killing a human being."

Hiro's voice began to show the darkness inside of him growing at an exponential pace.

"_**Not…any…more!**_"

He pressed open the badge to Baymax's chip slot, clutching the green chip between his right thumb and index fingers. Despite Sora's protest of "Listen to him, Hiro," the genius himself looked at the chip for fifteen seconds. He wanted to break it half, yet if he did, the last remnants of Tadashi encoded in the chip would be lost forever; so he flung it to the floor, landing eight feet away from Breathless' high-heel boots.

Baymax tried again with his voice of reason.

"Hiro this is not what-"

"_**Shut the fuck up,**_" Hiro said lowly as he slammed the remaining card of death back into Baymax's internals. The droid straightened himself for two seconds, followed by the grey lids of his eyes closing. Then a split second later, his head was titled downwards by eight to six inches and his eyes turned to blood. His viewpoint was redder then the lights illuminating the area as Callaghan backed away in fear. And then, in the place of his soft squeaky voice, came the polar opposite that was a mixture of a Terminator and a Dalek with only a single word that boomed all across the entire facility.

"_**KILL.**_"

His master placed the Kabuki mask on his belt for extra measures regarding a personal dramatization.

"Baymax," Hiro said with the voice of an insane dictator. "Kill the sick bastard and his allies, and when you are finished with them-"

A depiction of smoke and flames came into his irises that were marked with a mad smile as he rolled his fingers at the level of his chin.

"_**Burn them at the stake.**_"

Spots cringed and so did the other criminals. Shaky was trembling more than ever. Lips gasped in horror along with Sketch at the thought of being executed the old fashioned way. In their minds, being burned at the stake was inhuman compared to the electric chair.

"_Quelle horreur!_" the Frenchman replied.

"Not the stake!" Mole protested.

"Spare us!" Crewy begged.

"Please no!" Oodles cried.

"Nonono," Mumbles, in a rare moment of world class begging, slowed his speech down as he sobbed in gross tears. "Anythingbtdat! Anythingbutthat! Anything but that!"

But Hiro, ignoring their pleas for mercy, reached for a perfume bottle from his right pouch with his left hand. Opening it with his other hand, he splattered the contents all over the criminals. Then, from his left pouch in the same hand, he unleashed a single match that stood on the threshold of fate, in some ways a vomitus deception of the Scales of Justice and Hiro was pressing the guilty scale by releasing a blank matchbook from the same pocket of the match and carefully placing it against the striking surface.

"Burn in hell—_**fuckers.**_"

And at the very moment the match was lit in his hand, Hiro began to laugh like an evil clown, something that only Fred could identify as "Joker". He threw the match and watched with masochistic giddiness as the match tapped the right vest side of Big Boy's coat and ignited. The heat of the flame attracted the other gangsters, sprouting flowers of fire onto their clothes and three tiny combustions kindled Crewy Lou's hair.

Hiro wasn't afraid of fire anymore—he was using it as a weapon of irony. The liquid in question was actually kerosene, to which Hiro had stored from his garage. The kerosene had been used by him and Tadashi for testing robots that could withstand fire, and if the material was truly fireproof, they would pour a trail of the kerosene into a circle and move the robot into the flame. These tests, were mostly successful, yet in the case of Big Boy Caprice and his grotesque army, this was sure to burn their clothes…and their skin right off. Breathless shrieked in horror like a damsel in distress, for the situation occurring around her was growing fouler by the second.

"Stop him!" screamed Big Boy as he tried to slap out the flames on his lamb overcoat with his right hand.

Spaldoni aimlessly tried to shoot the raging robot's visor with his Webley Mk IV, he fired twice, but Baymax shoved it out of his hands with a right hook that sent the pistol flying out of the crooked lawyer's reach. Then Sandman joined the fight with well-aimed hammer formed from his right hand, but Baymax, his eyes locked on Callaghan, threw a right backhand at his face while his left hand fired the rocket fist. Callaghan cartwheeled to the right as the fist slammed into the wall behind him. He ran to safety and so did the other criminals except for Big Boy and Breathless, who were scrambling up the stairs, towards the exit and back to the ferry as Hiro continued to laugh in a brainwashing process of insanity.

"Yes…_kill him! __**Kill him! KILLLLLLLLLLLL HIMMMMMM! AH, HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!**_"

The laugh was so loud, so slow and so long that Go Go, Honey, Fred, Wasabi, Donald, Goofy and Sora were all beginning to see that Hiro was losing his mind and so was Baymax, whose' rocket fist was returning to him. Go Go slid down the right hand bannister and when she was about twenty inches away from the edge, she leapt onto Baymax's left arm, shouting "_Ani!_" as the rocket fist fired again. Sandman's whose face had by now rematerialized, gripped Go Go with both hands and yanked her off the arm. She struck the wall behind the stairs hard and heavy and her body collapsed into a heap.

"This is my fight," he muttered.

But when he saw Big Boy and Breathless standing there in a great deal of distress, Sandman moved his back towards the crime boss and the chanteuse, mentally vowing to protect them with widespread arms.

Hiro stopped laughing then when he saw Fred jump into the action. He was tackling Baymax's neck from behind, dragging him back from having the droid search the pillars for Callaghan. The incensed genius, thinking that there was nothing he could do, removed his helmet and slapped the mask on, bringing the microbots back to life. They slid under Donald's and Goofy's feet, sliding them to the floor and returned to their rightful owner, who was just about as corrupted as they were from a month of serving their captor.

_Fine—I'll do it myself._

He found Callaghan behind the pillars, running about as he had reached the left half of the area. Pushing his right index finger forwards, the microbots formed a trip line in front of Callaghan, sweeping him off his feet and crashing his nose to the floor face first. Then Hiro picked up the fallen chrome plated Colt 1911 and advanced to the murderer on stomping feet.

Callaghan felt like he was living a nightmare as he turned his body around to see his own mask turn against him under the guise of a purple clad figure, which smacked his left nostril with his own gun and pushed his face to the floor. Getting up, his right cheek was slapped by the barrel of the gun, followed by a blow to his chin and before he knew it, the barrel was in his mouth. The Kabuki mask lifted his left hand to reveal the laughing figure of Hiro, his mug of insanity filled with the delight of committing genocide.

"And when you see Tadashi, tell him I said…"

Callaghan expected a word of forgiveness, but Hiro's reply was full of blood thirst.

"It was _**your **_mistake."

"Please, Hiro, let me explain-"

But Hiro was not in the correct mood for an explanation. He just pushed the gun further into Callaghan's mouth, cutting off his speech, and his voice sounded like he was possessed by Satan himself.

"_**Go to hell.**_"

The devil child formerly known as Hiro Hamada had his right index finger on the trigger, ready to pull down and bring Callaghan's criminal career to a bloody finish, before Sora, Kingdom Key in left hand, shouted.

"You want justice, not revenge!"

His brother's voice supplemented the usual "reason before killing". But he would not listen to his words.

"_Hiro, listen to me. I don't want you to hold this against him._"

"_**Save me the shitty heroics,**_" Hiro said coldly. It reminded Sora of his first journey when Riku was possessed by Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, an evil Heartless obsessed with opening the door to Kingdom Hearts and plunging the universe into everlasting darkness.

"_**He killed Tadashi. So I say it's time for poetic justice to see the killer die with the same gun he used to kill his victim.**_"

Hiro's right index finger slowly pulled the trigger down—only to let Sora jump into the act and tackle Hiro's arm, removing the gun from Callaghan's mouth. The barrel flipped his upper lip and Hiro, too late to stop himself, fired the gun just one feet away from the professor's head. Any lower and it would have left a seven-to-three inch scar up Callaghan's right eye.

The bullet ricocheted across the room and struck the titanium steel wall where it bounced off and flew to the roof. It deflected against the steel beam and flew towards the edge, zig-zagged off like a football hitting the back of the rim, then down to the ground where it landed 94 feet away from its intended target. It lay there, untendered and lifeless as the victim that could have ended its life with lead poisoning. But instead, it just simply lay there for the rest of all eternity.

Regaining his strength, Callaghan threw a right haymaker at Hiro's nose, knocking the mask off upon his right temple making direct contact with the steel floor before the mad professor himself re-obtained the gun and his mask. The microbots were back under his control.

Baymax, after throwing Fred off of his back, charged towards Sandman, Big Boy and Breathless. But before he could, Wasabi and Go Go held their hands against the corset piece, allowing Sandman to strike back at the robot with a right farmer's fist. He spotted Lord Deathstrike about fifteen feet away from them, the microbots crawling to their master in a black river of evilness, and Big Boy and Breathless seized the opportunity to escape with Sandman following behind him. Yokai elevated himself back to the upper level, obtaining the intact portal and Sandman did the same, carrying Breathless and Big Boy in his strong hands.

Honey, who had spotted the healthcare chip when Hiro removed it, rushed down to pick it up with her right hand. Throughout the majority of the battle, she hid in the corner where the chip lay next to the bullet intended for Callaghan until Baymax was safely out of the way. Go Go was taking the rear, while Wasabi took the front of the robot, balancing him against a test of strength before she was thrown back by the mechanical right foot and Wasabi with a strong set of arms. Then, Sora aimed his Keyblade at the chip slot door, followed by a beam of light that opened the badge and allowing Honey to insert the chip back into its proper place.

"_Por favor,_" she whispered.

And that was all it took to bring Baymax to his senses.

Hiro opened his eyes just in time to see Yokai exiting through the roof on a wide gondola of microbots. Big Boy and Breathless followed after him on a similar gondola created by Sandman, who used his reshaped body to carefully balance the two crooks out of harm's way. He wanted to follow them, yet he just sat there, regaining his strength while they got away. Steam was blowing from his head and he wanted so much to break Callaghan's neck as he raised his right fist into the sky like an archetypical villain and screamed with all his fury at the man who trusted his brother…and shot him in cold blood.

"_**YOU'LL BURN IN HELL FOR KILLING MY BROTHER, CALLAGHAN! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU AND YOUR GODDAMNED FRIENDS, TOO! DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH?! I WILL KILL YOOOOOOOUU!**_"

At last, Hiro broke down, he tried to stop the tears but they could escape the strength of his waning eyelids. He slammed his fists to the floor like an immature child, forming two small craters into the tiles.

Baymax's readout went back to blue, a clear and purified sort of blue that made him observed Fred, his top eye unconcealed, lying face first on the floor. He offered a helping pair of right hands as he spoke.

"My healthcare protocol has been violated. I regret any distress I might have caused."

Sora, Honey, Goofy, Fred, Donald, Go Go and Wasabi stared a Baymax, shocked by the shadow of his evil counterpart for a second before Hiro came stomping up to his friends, shouting with pure rage and utter dismay.

"_**HOW COULD LET HIM GET AWAY?!**_" He was still sobbing from his loss, both Tadashi and his killer. He began to shake Honey furiously. "_**WE HAD HIM! DO YOU HEAR ME, BITCH?!**_"

With a glare, Wasabi sidestepped in front of Honey and what he said next were the most powerful tone of words he had ever spoken in his life (as of late).

"Don't you dare talk to her that way! We didn't sign up to become contract killers!"

As Hiro grumbled his way to Baymax, Go Go added her own voice of reason.

"We said we'd catch the guy, not kill him!"

Hiro raised his right hand, violently slapping her left cheek (which was blocked by her visor and didn't seem to crack upon impact).

"_**SHUT UP, BITCH!**_" he screamed in her face like a madman (or in this case, madboy). "_**I NEVER SHOULD HAVE ASKED ANY OF YOU TO HELP ME!**_"

"Revenge doesn't solve anything," Fred added with his expertise of comic book logic. "That's why most heroes don't kill!"

"_**WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT WHAT HEROES DO?!**_" Hiro growled. "_**ANY CRIMINAL THEY SHOULD FACE DESERVES TO FUCKING DIE!**_"

Before Sora could join in, Hiro turned to Baymax, lowering the decibels of his voice as he spoke.

"Baymax, find Callaghan and Big Boy!"

Baymax placed his head up by six degrees, his visor turned blue and flickered with the cracks it had suffered from Spaldoni's bullets. The color faded with a foreshadowing of no result as Baymax lowered his head. To Hiro's dismay, the results came true.

"My enhanced scanner has been damaged from two bullets."

"_**FUCK!**_" Hiro stomped his right foot. The blow was so hard that it created a mini-earthquake rattled the entire facility for a split second. He climbed aboard Baymax, left foot first, then his right before he gave the following command.

"Wings!"

The robot complied and the eagle-like wings expanded from his back.

"_**NOW FLY!**_"

And they flew towards the hole in the ceiling and into the dark night, away from Callaghan, away from SFIT, away from his new friends, away from a criminal underworld that seemed out to get him. He didn't bother to chase after Big Boy and his cronies now, nor did he care that Sora was following him on his Keyblade Glider…all he wanted was to see Callaghan's immortal soul burn at the mercy of the devil. As they flew, Hiro cursed himself for shooting Callaghan sooner before Sora intercepted his chance. He even wished that Tadashi was still alive, flying with him by his side with an angel's wings.

Nii-san _would know what to do._ He thought as the Lucky Cat Café came into sight.

Back in the facility, Spider-Man had regained consciousness. He panned his head left and right, noting the amount of damage done from the battle he was unable to witness.

"What did I miss?" he wondered out loud.

While Donald and Goofy went over to resuscitate Nova, White Tiger, Iron Fist and Power Man, Fred released his hands from the mechanics and reached his right hand into his right pants pocket, pulling out his light blue Sony Ericsson and dialing the home phone number. After a three second dial tone, Heathcliff's came on the other line.

"Lee residence."

"Hey, Heathcliff, could you pick me and my friends up from Akuma Island? I'll meet you on the roof."

Back at the Lucky Cat Café, Aunt Cass had a light dinner of two croissants with jelly on the inside and a glass of water to wash the minerals down. With Hiro's amount of newfound absence, her family life was becoming progressively quieter by the month, starting with Tadashi and his premature death, followed by Hiro's depression period and him going back to school at the spur of the moment. It was likely, that given her own experience with her family and such, the phase was all part of growing up. As she pondered the nature of Hiro's decision, she heard the quiet whine of a rocket coming from the garage. Cass looked over at the kitchen clock, which read "6:55" and made her way downstairs to the garage behind her house, certain that it was Hiro, having made it back an extra ten minutes early before his curfew.

_Damned nerds! _Hiro removed his helmet as he opened the garage door on maddened footsteps. Baymax stood in the middle and Sora landed his glider at the exact time Aunt Cass came in, asking.

"Home already?"

Hiro ignored her entirely as he placed his helmet on the computer desk along with his gloves. Cass's gaze went to Sora, then back to Hiro grabbing a foldable four foot step ladder in front of Baymax. Only when Hiro removed the robot's helmet did she recognize the squidgy head of Baymax more properly. Hiro, marching back to the computer with the helmet, furiously pushed aside a thin oil can, his scanner and a spark plug socket off the table, reaching into the helmet's USB cable with his right hand and in his left, another one for the computer. Seeing Hiro's current mood, Cass' question seemed rather odd, yet factual based on her knowledge of drugs.

"Have you been taking steroids?"

Sadly, his head was turned.

"His blood pressure is elevated," Baymax answered for her. "There are no traces of any steroids in his system."

Sora entered the garage, removing his own helmet and carrying it under his right armpit.

"He's just upset," he did not wish to tell Cass about any particular details until the matter involving Callaghan was solved.

"You appear to be distressed," Baymax said as Hiro typed away on the computer. His view of the monitor was obstructed by the boy genius' head, but it was apparent that Hiro was going into his files and recalculating the super-sensor.

"_**I'm fine!**_" Hiro muttered under his breath. "_**Kuso robotto.**_"

He climbed the step ladder again and placed the helmet back onto Baymax, adjusting it four degrees to the left as the grid came into the visor. Sora and Cass exchanged blank glances from their sides of the garage, both mentally agreeing to Hiro have his moments, but they continued to watch with suspense in the air should Baymax fail to provide reason into Hiro's madness.

"There! Is it working?" Hiro tried to calm down, hiding his lust for killing Callaghan with open hands that seemed normal and content.

Baymax lifted his head, turned left by five degrees, three to the right, then craned his head back down to meet with Hiro's eye contact.

"My sensor is operational," came the reply.

"Good. _**Now let's get going.**_"

Hiro was relieved; but in the process, he began to show his negative mindset of covetousness. It was starting to reappear when he tapped his right index finger on the badge of the armor, but it did not open.

"_**What the fuck?**_"

He tapped four more times; no result. Sora took a step closer, Cass did the same and Baymax asked softly.

"Are you going to remove my healthcare chip?"

"_**Of course I am, you dumbass,**_" Hiro seethed. He added his middle finger to the strength of his index and pressed them both against the surface of the badge with zero results. Baymax was smart enough to override the lock, a page he had taken out of HAL 9000's book to prevent hackers or thieves from getting into his chip slot.

"_**Open!**_" Hiro growled with the darkness of his heart increasing.

"My purpose is to heal, not kill," Baymax's reasoning no longer had any purpose in the twisted mind of an evil genius.

"_**Baymax, open your access port.**_"

"Do you want me to kill Professor Callaghan and Big Boy Caprice?"

Before Aunt Cass could speak out at the recently undeniable fact that Robert Callaghan was alive and well, Hiro shouted back, "_**YES, NOW OPEN THE GODDAMNED DOOR!**_"

"Calm down, Hiro," Sora tried to intervene. "Violence is not the answer."

_SHUT YOUR ASS UP! _Hiro was assuming that if Baymax could not open his access port from the armor exterior, he would do it from his bare body. And so, with extended arms, he unhitched the chest plate and threw it to the floor near Cass' feet. The purple corset had dropped by twenty inches and when Hiro got the same result after tapping the badge two more times with his right index finger, he decided that the best way was to rip the port off with his own two hands. He screamed bilingually as he slammed his right fist into the badge.

"_**OPEN, DAMN YOU! DOA O AKETE, ANATA BAKA KUSO ROBOTTO!**_"

"Language, _please!_" Cass was on the threshold of upsetting herself.

"Will killing Professor Callaghan and his allies improve your emotional state?"

When the words reached his ears, Hiro flung his arms over his head. He wanted nothing more than to eat Callaghan's liver as a self-reward for ending his life, but his good and bad sides had other ideas.

"_**Yes!**_ _No!_ I don't—know!" Hiro tried to confess the truth, but his words were too ambivalent. His mind was completely fixed on gory subjects like darkness, death and decay. With his aunt in plain sight, his chances at surprising her with the news of his heroism were spoiled and he did not wish to admit in front of Cass that Tadashi had been purposely murdered. He continued to slide all ten of his fingers behind the access door, wanting to rip it open as he saw it as the heart of Callaghan, trying to pull it right out of his fresh corpse as hard as he could.

"Is this what Tadashi wanted?"

The words of Baymax struck Hiro's mind in the form of a bullet, the same one that took his brother away. He thought about it…for a second. And in the next moment, he was cursing at his own strength; the strength of a weakling that could not even open a simple door…let alone save the lives of his loved ones. It was also because of his weakness that he let Tadashi run off into Callaghan's clutches when he could have held on for just a few more minutes. Now that he was even more miserable at having a close member of his family joining his parents in death, he never wanted to hear the very mention of his brother's name ever again.

"Tadashi! TADASHI! _TADASHI!_ _**How should I know what Tadashi wanted?! Why do you even keep speaking about him as if he's alive, when he's not?!**_ _**HE'S DEAD, YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT!**_"

He punctuated the last word by slamming his hands into Baymax's chubby chest, startling Sora and his aunt as it looked as though they would just break through and deflate the robot's rubber flesh into a pile of ripped linen. Then, realizing what he had called his brother's last work, he sunk his head further into Baymax's torso and his arms fell to the level of his eyes, hating himself, his weakness, his life and his intelligence.

"Tadashi is….dead."

It was then that Hiro realized, that, among the countless billions of carbon based lifeforms in this godforsaken world, his life had been nothing more than a deficiency of perfection. He couldn't understand why his parents, whom he had only known for the first four years of his life, had to be taken away from him in a car accident. He couldn't understand why Tadashi, the older brother who had been with him for the majority of his childhood, had to throw his life away at the hands of a man consumed by the fires of evil. He couldn't understand why Aunt Cass, out of all his other living relatives on opposite sides of the Pacific, had to be his legal guardian. He couldn't understand why his brother had so many connections with crime, when he himself nearly became a part of one. He couldn't understand why his new friends were so geeky and weird and he couldn't understand why Tadashi even built Baymax in the first place. In fact, Hiro couldn't understand anything anymore, about life, about love, about hatred or revenge. He wanted to end it all, yet he could not. His mind was telling him to commit suicide, but his heart was telling him live a long life; a very, very, _very_ long life.

At last, as though he was able to read his thoughts, Baymax spoke.

"Isn't it obvious, Hiro? You have a heart condition."

Hiro kept his eyes closed. The congenital stigma of angina pectoris or some generic kind of heart condition never seemed to bother him, and after yearly visits to the hospital until his twelfth birthday, he assumed that it was gone forever. But no matter how hard the doctors tried, a small portion of the defect still remained—at the very bottom of his organs.

"I know," was all he said.

"Tadashi knew that he wasn't going to be around with you forever," Baymax explained. "So he created me. His idea stemmed from seeing you in the hospital among other patients who needed help, as his father was a doctor who studied in neurosurgery."

Hiro didn't care about his parents any longer. He didn't care about his friends left behind on the island. He didn't care about Sora or Aunt Cass, who were standing close to him with warming hearts. He never wished for anything so hard in his life. What he really wished for, was that when he opened his eyes, Tadashi would be standing there, ready to take him in his arms and give him a great big hug, whispering comforting things into his ears.

A light shone into the dark recesses of his eyelids. His wish came true…but it was only an image of Tadashi in his lab at early daybreak standing high with his head looking down, his eyes obscured by the visor of his cap. He was also wearing a blood red t-shirt, brown trousers and he appeared to be exhausted, but determined, which was hidden by his right hand covering his eyes while his left hand held a clapper board. Written in white chalk on the board read his full name on the bottom, "Robotics Project" on the line above his name, "Test #" on the top right and the numbers 82, 83 and 84 on the top left, the first two numbers crossed off in a single line.

"This is Tadashi Hamada," he announced in a soft, breathy voice. "And this is the 84th…"

He looked at his clapper board with an unrelenting sigh of discomfort.

"…test."

Tadashi smoothed the back of his neck with his right fingers, sighed and looked at the camera, revealing his eyes as he fixed his lips into a smile of sanguinity.

"What do you say, big guy?"

He placed his right hand at the chip slot, followed by the sound of the access port closing. Tadashi lowered his arms and took a solid breath, sucking the oxygen through his nose and directly out from his throat, ready for the final result that stood on the boundary lines of failure and success.

"Hello! I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion."

Tadashi flubbed his lips slightly, then his jaw started to drop with an expression that plainly read "awe". Without warning, every ounce of his enthusiastic childishness, long nursed since his tenth birthday, was unleashed into what became the happiest moment of his life.

"_MAA NANTE KOTO NANDA! IT WORKS!_"

He held his arms outs, shouting "_THIS IS AMAZING!_" as he spun to the left came back to Baymax and give his _magnum opus_ a romantic face that urged his lips to kiss the artificial life out of the robot. And so he did, and it only took him a split-second to fog the polished hyperspectral cameras.

"_Hai! _I knew it! I knew it! I _knew it!_" He danced to the taciturn beat, using his legs for drums of excitement, until at last he resumed all matter of being content and limped his arms.

"Okay, big moment here…scan me."

At his master's command, the voice of the other Baymax responded after a three second whir.

"Your neurotransmitter levels are elevated. This indicates that you are happy."

"I am! I am! I _really _am!" Tadashi cried with all the love found in his heart. "How do you feel, Baymax?"

"Battery power at 98%. My systems are running perfectly."

"I see. Well, as you probably know, my name is Tadashi…and it's nice to meet you."

Hiro watched as he started to beam with not a single tooth shown, trying to contain his own enthusiasm from watching his older brother during a time when life was simple, before an ex-member of the Apparatus took his life. Sora and Aunt Cass walked quietly behind Hiro, placing opposite hands on his shoulders. All three members of Baymax's audience peered into the screen, the orange shade of the early morning painting their faces in a similar glow of light that symbolized the light of Hiro's heart finding its way back to the surface. In the video Tadashi pulled up his swivel chair and sat down on it, looking prim and proper as though, in an ironic sense, his last testimony. The testimony of an advocate whose words saw the best in all living beings, even if they did not deserve it the most.

"Wait until my brother sees you! His name is Hiro. He's a little offbeat, but he's really smart, and he loves inventing things. Sometimes he goes over-board and gets himself in trouble. But he's my only brother…and I love him. To be honest, when I was making you, I wasn't sure this was going to work. But now, I have lot of high hopes for the both of you. You didn't know this yet, but you are going to help a lot of people, and one day…I hope…you will be Hiro's friend."

Tadashi extended his right to Baymax, and unknowingly, to Hiro himself.

"Let's watch over Hiro together and see what kind of a world he creates. I'll bet that everyone is going love him."

The screen froze at that moment. It was a frame that had perfectly captured all of Tadashi's happiness into a big smile. Hiro, imbued by the epiphany of his words, edged his right fingers on the screen where Tadashi's left cheek was and stared at the image hungrily. A small tear came out of his left eye, hoping that he would fall right through the screen and reach this alternate dimension where his brother was alive and well, but he could not. The screen was a barrier that could never be reached by any means, filling his heart with half joy and half terrible sadness. Cass held her arms around her nephew with similar emotions. Sora remained silent, respectfully towards the living Hamadas. It felt as though Tadashi had been speaking to him as well, somehow knowing about all the countless times he had saved the lives of others, even going as far as letting them reside within his very own heart.

_I don't think Tadashi would have wanted revenge._

Hiro's tears blurred his vision, fabricating a dream that would never come true. In it, he saw himself in the Buena Vista Park on top of Baymax, who was offering a dodgeball to a blond haired boy of ten, while he himself drew a simple cloud from his smoke pen. Tadashi stood by his left, blowing his disinfectant bubbles. Aunt Cass and Mochi stood nearby with the other adults, watching their children play with the inventions of her nephews. Fred was there as well, being a showoff in his mascot lizard suit as he rode a rocket powered hoverboard. Go Go smiled at the cloud cat perched on top of her head, clinging to her purple locks. And Wasabi and Honey laughed and cheered as they played with the children and the bubbles that completed the atmosphere. Detective Tracy, Tess and Junior were there as well, having a picnic with Sora and the S.H.I.E.L.D. rookies displaying a wonderful show of Keyblade tricks, web-slinging and the magic of Donald's mage turning Goofy's shield into a Frisbee. As his dream (and Tadashi's image) faded into memory, Hiro saw how much Tadashi wanted to help others, a trait taken from his own father, who wanted to find a cure for cancer. But underneath his enthusiasm and utmost happiness, he was still wishing that his brother hadn't been so stupid. He looked up and addressed Baymax with a short, yet heartwarming speech of forgiveness.

"Baymax, you were trying to protect the world my brother was trying to create."

"He was," Sora added with kindness.

"Thank you," the young genius confessed in a quiet voice. Then he looked down, reflecting his size, his IQ level and his actions.

"I guess I'm not like my brother after all."

"You're wrong."

Hiro turned around. The voice belonged to Go Go, who stood there with her helmet off, flanked by Honey, Fred, Wasabi, Donald, Goofy and the rookies. Aunt Cass was flustered and mystified with this revelation.

"What is all this?" she asked, rising her voice with hidden fear and anger. "Is this what you have been doing this whole week?"

"It's a long story," Hiro replied.

Aunt Cass was overcome with so many questions, that she didn't notice Hiro being pulled into Go Go's arms. She closed her eyes as she did. Her teammates Honey, Wasabi and Fred looked on with sympathy and Sora patted Hiro's ratty hair with his right hand. Goofy and Donald were on the verge of tears and Spider-Man was trying vainly to hold them back. Nova looked as though he wanted to hug someone else as well, but White Tiger, Iron Fist and Power Man were in no mood for further sadness. In this moment that only lasted four seconds of her life, Leiko Tanaka felt she was at peace with Hiro's emotions and her ancestral country Korea's tense relationship with the Japanese.

"We'll catch Callaghan and Big Boy," she cooed, stroking Hiro's hair. "And this time, we'll do it right."

Hiro smiled, but it quickly turned into sadness, for he was still brooding over the nature of his actions.

"I want to kill him, but now I don't want to."

"I'm sure you don't mean that," Go Go assured him.

"Leiko, Callaghan killed my brother. Tadashi deserved justice."

Go Go looked at him, appalled with his words.

"That isn't justice you're talking about, Hiro, that's revenge. Justice is about harmony... revenge is about you making yourself feel better. That is why we have an impartial system."

Hiro understood her words. As a genius, he seemed to know every last bit of the criminal justice system.

"I know, but sometimes I just wish I could have a perfect world."

"It doesn't have to be a perfect world," said Peter from under his Spider-Man mask. "When my uncle was alive, everything was perfect and it would have been if I had stopped the thug at the studio. But what's done is done. Time to look forward."

The boy genius looked back at Spidey. Even though his eyes were covered by the plastic chrome covered lenses of his mask, there was serendipity in his heart, serendipity that would finally lay all of his troubles to rest. Finally, he gazed at Fred, wondering how the hell they had gotten here so fast.

"Oh, before you ask," Fred jumped in. "I called Heathcliff to have us picked up in the family chopper."

"And next time," Wasabi reprimanded in a stern, but caring smile. "Don't leave your teammates stranded on a deserted island."

Hiro covered his eyes in shame with his left palm. His doubts were increased by the fact that Tadashi would _never_ desert his own friends by any deliberate means.

"Also," added Honey, holding the red junk drive in her right hand. "After the video was over, I thought we could take the video back as evidence."

"Just what we need for Detective Tracy," Hiro let out of small laugh of disbelief. "The fact that Alistair Krei created a portal that nearly destroyed the whole city. I'm not so sure how it will connect us to Big Boy and Callaghan."

"Well," Sora suggested, crossing his arms. "Why don't we watch the video again and see for ourselves."

Honey inserted the drive into the USB port of the computer, everyone (including Aunt Cass) watched Hiro focus the screen entirely on the control room footage, picking up exactly where they left off with General Hammond shouting, "You nearly got us all killed!"

A figure in a grey shirt, black tie and black trousers with matching shoes could been rushing down the stairs from behind them. Looking carefully into the video, Hiro could see that it was Callaghan, looking as angry as a raging bull.

"_**KREI, YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU KNEW IT WASN'T SAFE! YOU KNEW IT WAS NOT READY!**_"

Hiro paused at the right moment, which saw Callaghan being detained by two short haired men in dark indigo suits, his left hand reaching out as though it were hell-bent on choking Krei to death.

"He was there," Hiro whispered in denial.

His ex-students could not believe their eyes.

"He was such a good man," Honey's voice was full of woe. "What happened to him?"

Hiro rubbed his chin.

"The answer must be in here."

He reminded all nine of the screen, going back to the start of the test. On the left side of the screen labelled "Pod Camera 01", Honey's sharp eyesight found Callaghan's his hands clenching Abigail's and she pointed her left index finger at the said screen shouting "There!" and Hiro held down the right mouse button, creating a select feature surrounded by a light blue barrier, which gave the team a closer look the video. It began to play, showing Callaghan and Abigail embracing.

"With the pilot."

The name "Abigail" sounded very familiar to Hiro.

"Hold on"

He zoomed in on the exact scene where Abigail was getting into the pod, her left profile to the camera. On the same side her helmet was the name "Callaghan", printed in all caps.

"Callaghan did say he had a daughter by the name of Abigail when you first met him," Sora pointed out and Hiro put two and two together when he came to an unanticipated conclusion.

"The pilot was Callaghan's daughter?!"

Playing the footage again for any other sign of Tadashi and the crashed pod, all Hiro could hear was his brother's voice shouting "She's dead! Her forehead's bleeding and her neck is broken," and that was when Callaghan came in, throwing his fit with last three sentences that ended the video.

"_**SHE WAS THE ONLY FAMILY I LEFT! AND YOU KILLED HER! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU AND YOUR GODDAMNED FRIENDS, TOO! DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH?! I WILL KILL YOOOOOOOUU!"**_

Hiro moved his upper back all the way in his chair, remembering the same exact words he had sworn on Callaghan almost an hour ago.

"Guys…?" Fred said slowly and dramatically. "This…is a revenge story."

Now, Hiro was no longer interested in getting revenge on Callaghan, when the mad professor himself was going down the same path he almost took to get his black hands of death on Alistair Krei. Taking in every moment of what could have been, a spillage of blood on his friends and the entire populace of San Fransokyo in an endless cycle that would led him straight back to prison, he knew that with previous charges of bot-fighting and other petty offenses, he would have lost any chances of the future Tadashi wanted for him: to use his intelligence to create a better tomorrow.

"We'll get them in the morning," Hiro announced. "Right now, it's time for bed."

Aunt Cass walked quietly back to her bedroom, while Sora, Spider-Man, Donald, the rookies, Goofy and the entirety of Big Hero 6 all slept on the floor. Hiro would have preferred his bedroom, but being in his garage where he could be surrounded by the memories of Tadashi was perfectly fine. He even used Baymax's chubby stomach as a pillow while the robot was being charged in his station for tomorrow's battle with the Apparatus. Soothing himself to sleep with a CD of Breathless Mahoney's soft and gentle tune of "Something to Remember" playing from his boom box, Hiro heard every meaning behind the lyrics. If there was something Tadashi wanted his brother to remember him by, it was his baseball cap, his possessions, his inventions, but most of all; his _magnum opus_, Baymax himself.

Callaghan could remember back to the time after he left the disaster on Akuma Island, when he was sitting in his office three months ago with Tadashi. The men sat face to face, the elder expressing his remorse, while the younger tried aimlessly to console him. His desk served as a barrier, preventing Tadashi from taking a step closer to tranquilize his increasing mountain of ire that seemed to transform into an erupting volcano.

"I was thinking we could dedicate a building in her honor," Tadashi suggested to the ruminating professor.

But he looked Tadashi straight in the eye and itemized an unsatisfactual expression.

"The situation's changed, Tadashi. We have to decide whose side we are really on, and I found that working a man like Alistair Krei would be suicidal. I can live with that mistake, but I can't live without my Abigail."

Tadashi tried to press the words into his father-figure.

"You didn't know this was going to happen. You can't just blame Krei for some malfunction, it's very common in computers. Even Baymax is malfunctioning because first moments have rocky beginnings."

"Well Krei was more the means to that 'rocky beginning'. The same thing you will be if you wish to get out of Big Boy's league."

The words hit Tadashi like a heavy sack of mail.

"You don't mean to say that every wad of money's he's been giving us was counterfeit?"

"It's legal tender," Callaghan deadpanned. "I was in a good mood to use the money to support the project…but I could have used it for something greater. We have all been part of a laundering scheme."

"Big Boy hasn't completely reformed—" Tadashi could not believe his ears. "At all?"

"He's still bad. But he probably has a better moral than Krei ever has."

"It's never too late for Krei to make up for his mistakes. As for Big Boy, he probably doesn't know what honor really is."

"Krei's the one who is meaningless!" the robotics teacher fumed. "Big Boy and his cronies may have broken the rules too many times, but the loss of my daughter is unacceptable."

Tadashi leaned closer by seven inches.

"All you need is to give him another chance."

Callaghan scowled with daggers in his eyes. He could see his daughter's blood on Tadashi's hands, to which only a fading trail could be seen going up his left pinky.

"He had his chance, Tadashi! First he decides to collaborate with Big Boy over more money, uses it for bad science, and now my daughter?! He can't do what he knows is right because he is a sadistic prick who knows about the flaws without realizing the consequences. He probably doesn't even know the true meaning of 'reaping the benefits' and instead of grasping the effects of his actions, he just laughs it off in his head. For a man like Alphonse Caprice, he has a better mind; simple but wise."

Callaghan stood up from his chair facing the window on his right hand side, looking out at the campus grounds and buildings obstructing his view of Akuma Island beyond the sight of memory. Tadashi came to his left hand, trying to summarize the fact that the "father" he had known for three years was becoming an entirely different person with a twisted sense of morality. Optimistic to the fact that he would get over it in time, Tadashi spoke softly.

"You're talking nonsense, Robert. Big Boy and Krei are the other way around, so you don't need him. Now you've mentioned his true purpose, I'll see to it that I'll be financing the remainder of Baymax all on my own."

And in a second, Callaghan darted his left index finger at his so called "son", turning his body by 120 degrees as he did.

"The _opinion_ of Don Caprice is that he is a thinker, and Krei…Krei is just somebody who should be appointed with hemispherectomy. I agree with his system completely, anyone who defies the law, major or minor, is as dead as good. There are no second chances…only death. Maybe you can write _that _on her headstone"

The situation was getting so ugly, that Callaghan imagined for a split-second that Tadashi was Krei, planning on giving him a humiliating speech and a skewed poem that went along the lines of "_Roses are red. Violets are blue. Your daughter is dead and so is your wife. Oh, yes it's true._"

"I feel sorry for you, Robert," Tadashi reasoned.

"Well, Krei is not going to be sorry for my daughter or any other life he takes," Callaghan seethed. "It's a pity I can't use his money to bring her back. As for your brother, you should give him a little something in the criminal world—word on the street is…he's a bot fighter."

Tadashi turned his head away to the right with a slightly open mouth. Callaghan was indefinitely losing his inner psyche to a world of sin, vice and corruption. But still, he needed solid evidence to prove the professor's words.

"I will see for myself," he said at last.

"You better hope so," Callaghan was still facing the window. "Because if you move fast, Big Boy will take care of him. He isn't as much of monster as he was back in the day. Good day, Mr. Hamada. Have a safe life."

Tadashi slowly turned on his feet walked straight to the door.

Then, Callaghan concluded the reflection of his words. Hiro was right about his brother going in to save him. Even though it seemed too late to rectify his mistakes, he knew that not only Tadashi tried to save him from the fire, but also from the wickedness created by the return of Krei at the showcase. He decided to pray for Tadashi again after the first week of his scheme to rebuild the portal. But it didn't help him now that he was strapped to a chair in the empty chrome-and-glass showroom of Club Ritz, with a strong cord of rope tied around his torso.

Big Boy was furious when he found out about the full explicit details of Callaghan's revenge plot. He paced back and forth, unwittingly demeaning the poor professor of his military background in Iraq as Sandman, his henchmen (and henchwomen) followed their eyes at his every move like empty headed drones. Breathless shot fire in her eyes and blew a placating sigh that flapped her lips in frustration as her arms remained crossed over her breasts. She looked like Marilyn Munster in Morticia Addams' clothing. The gangster's skinny moustache sneered at the unmasked Lord Deathstrike, who looked back at him with a guilty face that only a mother could love.

"So…you decide to join me, a seat on top of the world and you chose the gutter after your little girl died. Then, after sending me several messages, you fake your own death, kill one of my backstabbers without _my_ authority, impersonate a Kabuki character, send out more messages, my boys follow your demands… and yet, you used me as a pawn in this harebrained scheme, all because you want Alastair Krei dead as much as I do!"

"I was going to tell you after we pulled the job off," Callaghan said calmly. "I knew what would happen if I turned against you, but I was willing to take that risk…and as I said before, you were the only one I could trust."

"Trust?! After going AWOL and sending me up the wall?! You have no idea who you are dealing with!" the crime lord's temper began to rise. "I AM ALPHONSE 'BIG BOY' CAPRICE! ONE OF THE GREATEST CRIMINAL MASTERS OF ALL TIME!"

"And one of the _loudest_ criminal masters of all time," Callaghan muttered in the direct opposite of Big Boy's volume.

Itchy gulped with a nasty sound coming from the beating of his heart, his lungs and his nose before he spoke.

"I hate to break to break up the argument," he said at last. "But I think it's amazing how you built this portal to ship Krei out into outer space rather than just ripping his limbs off with those tiny bots of yours."

"I can't stand the sight of blood," Callaghan shook his head forlornly. "Besides, his death should be justified…in terms of poetic justice."

"Poetic justice?" Oodles, being the most dim-witted member of the Apparatus, asked with a curious tone, for he did not grasp the true understanding of irony.

"Krei's defective portal destroyed everything I valued," Callaghan explained. "So it will be the same portal that destroys everything he values."

"That's what it is?" Oodles asked again.

"Of course it is," Laffy chuckled. The meaning of poetic justice was alien to him as well, so he played with his own charade of high intelligence as well.

"Or," Breathless said snootily. "Maybe it was _your _fault that Abigail is dead. If you knew that the portal test was unsafe, why didn't you try telling her to back out of the project?"

Callaghan smiled sadly to himself, wishing he could turn back time to prevent the disaster. To Breathless, he said.

"I didn't know what was going to happen until it was too late. I thought that Krei knew every detail about the pros and cons of the portal, especially since him, me and Tadashi were working on it together along with the science division at Krei Tech."

"You could have sued him," Crewy Lou flipped her hair back in the drawling voice of a slut as if she were incredibly stoned. A few flecks of her ponytail were singed with dark spots exposing the amount of kerosene spilled from Hiro's bottle. Luckily, she was able to put the flames out before they could consume her hair entirely.

"Well I tried," Callaghan confessed mournfully. "But I realized shortly afterwards that Krei is a mega-corporal businessman with an army of lawyers and even if there was something he did underhanded, he would never be able to prove it. Also, it was irrational — I also realized on some level that Krei didn't do anything actionable. But I still held the man directly responsible for killing my beloved daughter."

"Spoken like a true criminal on our side of the 'law'," Spots exclaimed.

"And then I realized that if could not destroy Krei through legal matters, given the secrecy of Project Silent Sparrow, I decided to matters into my own hands by enacting the most elaborate revenge scheme in history. I didn't leave you for good, Big Boy, I just needed to be closer to my job."

Big Boy rolled his eyes, accepting the fact. He believed that his mind was being too harsh on the professor, so he took a knife from the table closest to him, severed the ropes and offered his right hand to the liberated Kabuki man.

"Well, sucker, you have made a wise decision."

The two criminals shook hands, rekindling their relationship.

"I just can't believe that he is dead," sighed Mrs. Trueheart to Tess early the following morning. The older woman was removing a tin of muffins from the oven for breakfast while the younger sat at the kitchen table, stirring cream into her coffee.

"Based on my experience with losing your father, I moved on a lot quicker. But in the case of a pre-teen like Hiro Hamada, I think he needs a little more time to let go. Sorta like you and Dick, torn between love and duty."

"What do you mean, Mama?" Tess asked stiffly. Even though she apologized to her mother for not inviting her to the funeral and explained some vague details of Tadashi's final moments from her knowledge of the disaster, the jumbling nature of confusion was an anchor on her mind.

"I said it takes time for him to let go."

"It figures. When we were at the wake, Tracy and I got into a bit of an argument. He wanted me to show support for Hiro and Cass, but I told him about how you had to mortgage the deli, how I was seen by the PD as nothing more than a housewife—I didn't know what I was really saying."

"I think I know why. You were just like Hiro, afraid to lose the one you love. To lose his brother to...violence. Like I did." Mrs. Trueheart swallowed; behind her wire rimmed glasses her eyes were moist. "Tadashi Hamada was a hero, dear. A real hero."

"I know he was."

"Everybody loves a hero, Tess, it helps us to set an example of things. I don't know where I've heard this before, but…I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams."

The older woman sighed with contemplation. She knew a real hero whenever she saw one, rather than the seemingly corrupted Department of Justice, who gave criminals a few short term sentences instead of longer ones like those out-of-state. Mrs. Trueheart took a bite out of one of the muffins, placing a fresh one on Tess' plate, but the young lady didn't look too hungry. She picked it up in her right hand and studied the confection. In one perfect moment, it seemed to have resolved all her problems.

"You know what? I think I'm gonna give this to Dick. He always liked your cooking."

Mrs. Trueheart's face registered a knowing smile and it was glued that way as her daughter got out a brown paper bag, placed the muffin inside, and headed for the door. Little did she know that in six hours' time, the context of her soliloquy, about heroes, strength, nobility and sacrifice, would come true.

* * *

><p>At 7:00 AM, Hiro sat down to a warm breakfast of ham and eggs, courtesy of Aunt Cass. As with the showcase, he was about to embark on another life-changing chapter; specifically the grand showdown of bringing Callaghan, Sandman, Big Boy and his Apparatus into the arms of justice. He woofed the food down his throat as quick as he could, unsure of the exact time Big Boy would strike. He did know, via the morning newspaper, that Krei was to open his new Krei Tech headquarters in the financial district at noon the very same day. Finished, he passed the plate to Aunt Cass, who placed it in the dishwasher as he went to his room, changed into his suit and rushed to the garage where his already-suited team of fourteen (fifteen including himself) stood in profound silence as he made an honorable speech of impartiality.<p>

"We can't let Tadashi's death be in vain. He wanted to help others, and that is what we plan to do; starting with Alistair Krei. I know my _nii-san _only intended to help people through medical means, but his attempt to save Callaghan from his sins is living proof that he wanted to be a redeemer, a champion, a real hero who saves people from danger, in both accounts of perilous disasters and surgical operations. So after we stop Callaghan, Big Boy, the sand guy and those other criminals, we'll continue to be heroes to the very end…and when the time is right, we will show the world who we really are. I mean, not every superhero identity has to be kept secret, right?"

"In some ways, yes," Iron Fist said.

Hiro drew a sharp, serious frown of his eyebrows. After holding his helmet under his right arm for the last three minutes, he held it above his head and with a great drop, he slid the helmet into his head.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's bring these criminals to justice."

And so they flew onboard Baymax and the Gummi Ship to the headquarters, where they would wait for Callaghan to strike back at Krei with an onyx fist.

As before with the previous night, Big Boy sat at a table in the showroom of the club with a full meal of ribs, cilantro, coffee, blueberries, butterscotch buns and French toast laid out in front of him, a feast fit for a king—only the king was fit to be tied. He looked like a million bucks wearing a black tuxedo, with a boutonnière in the left lapel, and when he was finished, he stood up from the chair, walked around the long table and addressed his fellow "soldiers" pacing back and forth, military style. Lord Deathstrike stood on the left side of the room, flanked by Sandman on the opposite right and the gangsters, wearing similar attire, stood like true soldiers during a briefing.

"Ok, here's the dealio: We have had enough of this city pushing us aside because we're different, retarded, ugly, hideous, misshaped and a bunch a' weirdos who ain't from this planet! In order to gain control of this city and run it to the ground we enact a hostile takeover of Krei Tech and I want their leader, Alistair Krei, deader than the ribs I just ate!"

He stuck his fork in the bones of his ribs and it quivered there. Itchy and Measles exchanged nervous glances; Flattop remained impervious. Laffy was trying his best not to break out of character with his chuckles. Ribs Mocco was not bothered at all by his namesake and Shaky, now armed with a jet black Mossberg 500, was also doing his best military stance, trying not to shake at all for the first time in his life. 88 Keys looked very dapper in his best suit with his hair combed all the way back. Breathless, Texie and Crewy, the sole females of the motley army, stood with their hands on their backs.

"We will show San Fransokyo the side of humanity that deserves to shine," Big Boy continued. "We will show them our own sense of duty! We will show them our own sense of destiny! We will show them a new era where only the imperfect humans are equal! An era, where people with disabilities are treated like kings, and those 'oh-so perfect' ones are liquidated for their inhumane acts! We will show them, as generals; not foot soldiers, that we will NOT tolerate any form of rebellion or cruelty against our fabulous outcast society! What are we?"

"Generals!" the gangsters shouted back.

"What are we not?"

"Foot soldiers!"

"And furthermore," Big Boy's speech was turning into a rant. "If any of those 'heroes' show up, _I WANT THEM ALL DEAD!_"

Taking heavy breaths, Big Boy was mollified with the answers of his posse. He studied the faces of his army, ready for action against a high-profile corporation company.

"Good. Now let's go get that son of a bitch."

The criminals cheered and whooped as they headed to their cars, while Lord Deathstrike went to the roof. One by one, he used the microbots to pick up the four portal pieces from the attic and headed towards the financial district, not caring at all about the pedestrians who ran out of his way or just stared at him from a distance, taking pictures of him with their phones and sending them to Instagram and Flickr.

The new Krei Tech headquarters was a two story crescent shaped building with an eight story dorsal fin in the 90 degree portion of the circle. Adjacent to the fin was another circular building that was four stories shorter than the former with some green shrubs around the fin and small sections of grass and wooden flooring at the bottom. It's white color and pristine glass windows offered a futuristic look that was way ahead of the city's time. Amongst a crowd of seventy people, three reporters from the _San Fransokyo Tribune _and CNN stood in the front line of the audience recording Alistair Krei, live on camera, standing in the middle of a dark grey stage and holding a thin glass of Perrier-Jouet in his right hand. On the front of the stage were the words "Krei Tech" written in a blue-gray art deco font, while behind him on the wall of the building was a blue poster with grid designs and the company name in white letters. The rest of the audience, watched him carefully and listened with sharp ears. As president of the company, Krei was known for giving long-winded speeches.

"This beautiful new campus is the culmination of a lifelong dream, but none of this could have been possible without a few bumps and grinds. Although a few setbacks and mishaps have made us stronger—and wiser from learning from our mistakes, they set us on the path…"

He lifted his champagne glass for emphasis.

"To a bright future that shines on the end of every day!"

The crowd cheered and clapped their hands with a praise of his strong words. The cameraman for CNN even had to slide his right hand through the strap in order to clap for himself out of force of habit. Had it been aimed higher, it would have caught something else.

_So this is how successful a second string is,_ he thought with passion on his mind. _An ironic outcome._

Suddenly, there was a distorted voice that was so loud, the whole Financial District could have heard it through their headphones.

"_**SETBACKS?!**_"

Krei turned around. A cloud of sand, hundreds of feet high, came barreling toward the crowd, blotting out the sun and hurtling at high speed down to the ground. To make matters worse, a spidery substance of darkness was coming down the roof of the main office and took the form of a black river, followed by a man in a Kabuki mask and a motley army of grotesque criminals. The audience screamed with fright, they backed out, slowly at first, then ran for the nearest entrance as the man lunged for Krei, who just stood there, frozen with fear over the unpleasant sight of this theatrical incarnation of the Grim Reaper. Krei ran and leapt off the stage, but no sooner did his feet leave the stage when the microbots swarmed up to his waist and covered the lower half of his body. They pinned him to the floor where he met the calamitous face of Big Boy Caprice, the hunched gangster in his black tux with white carnation looked like the headwaiter in Hades.

Then came Breathless in her black sequined gown, holding a pump-pink Thompson 1928. She aimed the barrel at Krei's pointed nose, snarling, "As they in the movies, stick up your mitts!"

The crowd, unaware of the potential threat aimed directly at Krei, ran to the street and away from the building, followed a squad of eight guards. The other criminals appeared from behind the west wing of the exterior, weapons ready and fired twenty eight bullets on the crowd, gunning down a woman in mute blue and a man in an indigo cardigan. The guards held their Berettas at the ready, aiming on the intruders, shouting "Drop your weapons! Drop the guns now!" when Flattop fired a bullet into his right cheek, forcing him to the floor as the surviving members of the audience screamed loudly. Sandman joined them at normal size, using his arms as a more lengthier barrier.

Crewy Lou, wearing a sleeveless gamboge colored lace dress with a miniskirt, was the first to stop the crowd with her Winchester. Texie was wearing a tight red dress and a matching red pillbox hat with a veil that announced her as a literal scarlet woman and the male criminals, minus Sandman, were wearing their finest tuxedos of black coats, white shirts and red corsages. These garments, representing the colors making up Yokai's costume and his Kabuki mask, reshaped the Apparatus into a formal group, rechristened "The Kabuki Squad".

Watching from the pagoda tower nearby, Vitamin Flintheart and Diet Smith were the first to notify the police about the incident, but unfortunately on their part, the live broadcast had found its way on the television set owned by Officer Daniel Gerson. He along with the Crimestoppers at the Bayview Police Station were watching the ceremony in the community room. As Tess had not returned home that previous night, Junior went to the station and spent the night there with Tracy's permission. Of Krei's motivating, yet verbose speech, he commented, "Well, that's putting it mildly. All we hope for is a bright future, while other people in places like the Middle East are living the low-life."

On the screen came a shout of "_**SETBACKS?!**_" and the camera darted up to see a quick sandstorm and a figure in a dark suit riding down a black river toward the screen. Lizz, Catchem and Patton leaned in their chairs for a closer inspection of the black mass heading to the screen without standing up. It seemed to be ringing some distant bells into their memories.

"The black river!" Patton shouted.

Tracy grabbed for the remote, hit pause and squinted at the figure's head, it seemed to be wearing a white mask with red accents and gold eyes.

"So there _was_ a man in a mask," he muttered, remembering Hiro's words.

"Looks like a Hollywood special effect to me," Gerson had seen the figure for himself, but he did not wish to believe anything so threatening could be a reality.

"Live cameras don't lie," Junior added and Lizz nodded her head in agreement.

Carefully remembering the exact location of the headquarters, Tracy addressed his peers as he headed to the door.

"The Financial District shouldn't be too far from here. Come on, guys, we've got an army of criminals to stop."

Junior followed Tracy into the backseat of the unmarked Crown Victoria, which was parked at the rear entrance of the building, Gerson joining him in the front passenger seat. Patton, Catchem and Lizz raced to their patrol car followed by Chief Brandon and a squad of men in blue. Tracy leaned his head to the left, he didn't bother to warn Junior of the impeding threat. Should the Kabuki man be allied as Hiro foretold, they would have a building full of hostages to shield themselves with. Hardening his eyes, Tracy gripped the steering wheel, rocked his feet twice and the car roared into the city.

"Let's go, boys," Tracy said on the police radio, and the remaining cars dashed into the street, taking several corners and trying desperately to avoid all traffic.

The light wind was blowing through the sandy colored hair of Alistair Krei, but it was no hindrance to his captor, who used an internal device to lift the mask to his head like a sun visor. Shell-shocked and disconcerted, it came to his surprise when saw the hidden face revealed to be Professor Robert Callaghan. His eyes registered anger with the frown of his mouth and his eyebrows were so low, they could only define hatred and revenge into a single most uglified expression of evil.

"Was my daughter a setback, you bastard?" he seethed with his right fingers gripping the Colt 1911. "Huh?!"

He smacked the barrel against the right nostril of Krei's prominent nose, which would have made it more difficult had it been him under the mask. Big Boy and Breathless, harnessed from the waist down in their own microbot pillars, aimed their firearms carefully at Krei's cheeks; Big Boy on the left, Breathless on the right.

"Callaghan—! I…"

Krei was at a loss for words as Callaghan circled ominously around him, motioning Breathless and Big Boy aside by thirteen inches. At last, he found his voice.

"Your daughter, Abigail was an accident. You can't just b—"

Before he could even say the word "blame", Callaghan mentally tightened his grip. The microbots were now crawling up to his breastbone by the second, until it would stop at the shoulder blades. As a bonus for his pathetic excuse for an apology, Callaghan wacked Krei's right nostril with the gun barrel, again with a more brutal force of habit.

"_**NO!**_" he screamed into his face before calming down by a notch. "You knew it was not safe! You dated her for a year and you decide to abuse her with harsh criticism and force, then kill her as if she were a piece of _**TRASH!**_"

"Anyone can make mistakes," Krei felt defenseless and weak. "We just got into a rough crowd. I never laid a hand on her."

"So she told me," Callaghan replied gruffly. "But I know I liar when I see one."

"The same way I see a back-biting bastard," Big Boy was moving his own Colt closer to Krei's head.

"Big Boy, all I wanted to say was that I had enough money to support my needs for the company. If the press didn't know a thing about—"

Big Boy had already understood Krei's motivations for leaving him. But for the third time, the executive's long nose was wacked by the gun of his former confidante.

"My daughter is dead because of your arrogance…and in return…"

All four looked up. From the right side of the building, a million microbots had taken the piece of portal that had been hiding in plain sight behind the walls. Krei observed the pieces, almost noticing the sparrow symbol on the piece.

_Oh God, this can't be happening._

But it was. Breathing heavily, he saw another piece from the left side of the building being carried by another million of the microbots. From his field of vision, cars stopped in the street below, fender-bending other cars that came their way. People on the street stared in surprise and horror, viewing the pieces, the nanobots and the criminals holding the audience hostage.

The microbots formed into the pillars and leggings of a structural framework, the same type used for bridges and large zeppelins that carried hundreds of people into the air as a precursor to airplanes. They were joined by a third million of the microbots, holding a much larger piece, which spawned from behind the fin. The tripod of bots, each carrying a trio of sections rose to an altitude of twenty feet, almost fifteen feet higher than the building itself. As the hunchbacked racketeer and his faithful courtesan watched with wicked smiles, the poor defenseless CEO wildly asked the nutty, if not deranged, professor in a loud remark.

"What is all this?!"

Even though the symbol looked familiar, he did not want to believe it. Callaghan, however, had no remorse in heart. Not a single drop of sympathy for this bastard could be seen in his eyes.

"You took everything away from me when you sent Abigail into that machine…and came out crashing with a battered head and a broken neck. As much as I would love to kill you with this—"

He gestured the gun.

"—I will show you how it feels to lose a loved one by destroying everything _you _love…with your own invention."

They looked back up. The sectors were ten inches apart from each other now and in two seconds, they were locked together in a perfectly neat position held by strong latches and glowed a blue aura inside the ring. Krei, upon further sight of this, shouted in denial.

"No! NO! NO! YOU CAN"T!"

"Of course we can," Breathless respired. "And with you dead, the next billionaires of San Fransokyo will be us. And then, we will show no mercy…to any of your partners-in-business."

This gave Big Boy a moment to perform what he had been waiting for such a long time. He turned his body clockwise to the crowd, raising his voice to maximum volume.

"And now, citizens of San Fransokyo. We have all come to the part…where I punish you for causing so much pain and inhumanity to the lives of the deformed, the disabled, the ugly and all around perfectly abnormal people. But, as Mike Norton once said, '"It is not what you can do for your country, but what you can do for all of mankind.'"

He turned, looking for Sandman somewhere below. Hoping to draw him out, he shouted.

"Sandy, NOW!"

Sandman compiled. He spun himself around, turning into a dust devil, which soon grew into a dusty wind spout that reached all the way up to the portal. The magnetism, coupled by the strength of the sand-made tornado, stripped the fin of its coverings, which came as tiny fragments and were the first to leave the earth into who knows where. A wi-fi antenna was picked up by the funnel and sent swirling into the blue door to an extra-terrestrial world.

On the ground was a different story. The Apparatus, fueled by Big Boy's words, began firing on the innocent crowds into a small mess of genocide and an applause of raging rapid machine gun shots fired by Flattop, Itchy, Measles, Pear-Shape, Johnny Ramm and Influence. Crewy Lou, Shaky and Pruneface fired slow-by-the-second rounds with their shotguns. Little Face, Spots, Brow, B-B Eyes, Mumbles, Coffyhead, Laffy, Mole, Rhodent, Ribs, Spaldoni, Shoulders, Stooge, Texie, did better work with their pistols and revolvers. Lips, who was unarmed, hid behind the crowd in hopes of a surprise attack of strangulating a member of the crowd and 88 Keys fought through with switchblade. The Blank, who was also armed with a stiletto, was no face to real face with Alice, whose scream had been cut off when he struck the blade into her throat.

Hiro, Sora and their army watched from behind the left wing, thirty feet away from the microbot structure on that side. Big Boy's plan of genocide and Callaghan's weapon of mass destruction unfolded with the similar reactions of the witnesses across the street and afar.

"We should act now!" Sora whispered, and they climbed their way to the roof of the wing.

From above, the top of the fin was pulled free from the glass windows that exploded into specs of glitter. Krei looked on, watching his worst nightmare come true with the roof of his latest creation being ripped from the reinforcing steel that held the walls together. Callaghan leaned his body closer to his and when he was an inch away from his personal boundary, he said with a growing poison in his tone.

"You will suffer as you watch everything you built, disappear and be destroyed for eternity…then it will be your turn…"

He pushed the barrel of his gun into Krei's mouth, wondering as to whether or not he should kill Krei more quickly and just get it over with.

"And when you see Abigail, tell her I said…"

Remembering Hiro's words, he spoke darkly.

"_**Go to Hell…**_"

"PROFESSOR CALLAGHAN!"

The said man turned his head right and so did Big Boy, Breathless and Krei. Hiro, Sora, Baymax, Donald Honey, Goofy, Wasabi, Go Go, Spider-Man, Fred, White Tiger, Iron Fist, Nova and Power Man were already standing on the roof of the left wing. His helmet carried in his hands, Hiro shouted out, "Let him go!" while the others looked up, ready to face the villains with courage. The criminals below heard the shout as well and ceased fire on the silencing gesture of Flattop's left hand, allowing the surviving hostages to escape. Sandman looked down at them from his tornado, he felt like a god compared to the pint sized heroes. He slowed the wind speed down for a better focus on Hiro's command.

"_**Not until I send this bastard straight to Hell where he belongs!**_" Callaghan shouted back.

Hiro looked over his left shoulder at Baymax, in need of the right words that balanced his light and darkness.

"Is this what Abigail would have wanted?"

"_**ABIGAIL IS DEAD, YOU RETARDED CHILD!**_"

Hiro drew back by two steps at Callaghan's tone of voice. Had their physical appearances not been a direct contrast, Hiro would have been looking into a mirror and his reflection would be himself…except for the fact that this reflection entirely captured the personality and caricature of the very person he was fighting to defeat (and almost killed): a man with a twisted mind of anger, vengeance, bloodthirst and negativity.

"This won't change anything. You and I both know how it feels to lose a loved one."

Callaghan relaxed his facial muscles. Big Boy looking for a way to lecture, if not reprimand, his enemies into a negotiable term of reasoning, glanced at Callaghan to use the microbots to move him closer to Hiro. Callaghan obliged and Big Boy's platform of microbots was getting closer to Hiro as he spoke and stopped.

"You know, Hiro. The way I see it—and Plato agrees with me—is that there is what is, and then there is what we would like it to be. But that's not important. What's important is that we take this man here—"

He pointed his right index finger back at Krei before directing it up to the portal ring.

"—and punish him for his crimes, by throwing him into that portal over THERE!"

Krei heard him from afar, but he tried to be brave as he pleaded.

"Listen to the kid, Callaghan. I'll give you anything I want."

Callaghan thought, almost questioning the nature of his actions. But his thoughts turned into a violent decision as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "_**I WANT MY DAUGHTER BACK!**_"

"And I want _my _brother back!" Hiro shouted in return. His tone of voice went from desperate to cocky. "But face it, Callaghan, life's a drag and so are _you_."

The man's face went red.

_**NOBODY CALLS ME THAT! **_He wanted to scream, but he had to deal it with the microbots under his command. The mask automatically lowered back to its previous position (face-on) and Callaghan's voice resumed its distorted tone of "_**ATTACK!**_" and so did the bots.

Big Boy shouted to his peers down below.

"OPEN FIRE!"

The criminals quickly reloaded the firearms. Ribs with his Colt Single Action Army fired two shots at Hiro as he avoided the thirty foot blade of microbots with a deft somersault, placing his helmet on before he jumped onto Baymax's back. His friends, having ran to safety on the other side, stopped to hear Hiro shout "Go for the mask!" before he took off on Baymax. Sora leapt off the building with the Kingdom Key raised as high as his arms could go, conveniently finding himself directly above Itchy, who barely had time to look up when Sora thrusted the key down on his glasses. Because they were so thick, the specs did not shatter, they just fell to the ground with a small greasy smudge that could even be bothered to be cleaned right away.

As Sora charged at the other criminals with Spider-Man, Goofy and Donald in tow, dodging in between the bullets as he did, Callaghan saw Hiro and Baymax speeding right towards him. Hiro extended his right hand for the mask, but Callaghan split himself, Krei, Big Boy and Breathless away from him by six feet. Before they could make a U-turn, Callaghan gestured a scorpion's tail of microbots at Baymax's right foot engine and gripped it like a fly caught in a spider web. With Baymax jerked to a stop, Callaghan gained the power to thrust the robot in a 360 degree turn, slamming him into the edge of the circular middle building and catapulting Hiro into the third floor of the fin.

Hiro broke through the glass, landing on his behind, but the velocity of the throw kept him rolling past five chairs made of maroon leather towards an empty office with no personal effects (it was a new building after all). The impact with the metal floor was so hard that the electromagnetic pad on the front of his left shoulder came off into a shatter of rubies. Lying face down, Hiro tried to think of another way at getting the mask off. But no sooner had he used his hands to lift his upper body back up, did he notice a strong force pulling him to the roof. Hiro knew that this wasn't a giant magnet out of a comic book; it was the portal, creating a strong level of magnetism that brought a nearby white desk and a black swivel chair to the ceiling as well with a Styrofoam cup, a mouse, a keyboard and other prepared objects. Hiro felt like he was caught in a roach motel and to make matters worse, the ceiling started to rumble.

Outside, Baymax was starting to lift himself up, but an arm of microbots gripped his behind, lifted him into the air and back down the ground, crashing the stage and the "Krei Tech" letters into splinters. He sat in it like a reclining chair, yet he felt weak for a robot that wasn't meant for combat.

"BAYMAX!" The others cried.

All the others had done was watch their leader plummet into the fin with the implication of mortal injuries, fueled by the additional morbid thoughts that his robot was destroyed for good. With fierce strength, they along with the rest of Spider-Man's pals, charged to the edge of the building. Fred leaped into action with his fire breath, but as the flame reached about a foot before contact with Callaghan, the villain lifted his right hand, obstructing the flames with a wall of fireproof microbots.

Back inside the fin, Hiro grew uneasy with the tension. Out of nowhere, the ceiling began to crack, behind the swivel chair…and then himself, flying up by three stories. He didn't have to be a science major to intuit that the moment he hit the portal, he would probably be trapped on the other side and killed from the effects of a foreign atmosphere. He let out what he was certain to be his final yell, when his right hand gripped a titanium cable that was strong enough to carry a ten foot crate and he jerked to a stop just before the portal.

Go Go raced to the bottom of the building, rolling over Oodles and Mole as she did, joining Sora and Spider-Man deflecting the bullets of enemy artillery. By now, the fin of the building was in a crippled state. She rushed right over to Baymax, but a busybody Callaghan gave his right hand a full thrust with an open palm. It sent a sharp spike of microbots charging at her at the near-speed of lightning but missed her. He missed again, but quickly sent the microbots under her feet, weaving into an orb that sent Go Go onto her behind, her right disk falling out of her hand. She looked up, immobilized to see that she was trapped.

Fred was down for the count as well, for he and Iron Fist were pushed by a haymaker punch of microbots molded after Callaghan's right fist (no pun intended). Fred, however, lifted his legs using his hands and regained his balance. He jumped up, aided by a quickly revived Iron Fist as spitted fire from the suit, falling to the ground and vainly burning a pillar while Iron Fist struck another on his side with a rare moment of his negative chi energy. Although he was able to balance it with his positive energy, it did have its consequences and one of the consequences was being weakened as a punishment for so much negativity in his chi. At one time, his chi energy created a false pregnancy on an associate and girlfriend, Misty Knight, which placed a strain on their relationship. Fred, meanwhile, felt a puddle of microbots pouring into his mouth, which slammed his back against the glass windows. His flailed right hand grabbed a steel texture plate, which was already bent by his tail. It fell from his grip as he and Iron Fist were locked in a crucified position with the microbots intending to pull all four of their limbs off. Measles and Crewy Lou, watching with glee, prepared to fire their guns.

Back on top of the building, Wasabi and Power Man were using their strengths and plasma lasers to chop up the microbots as Wasabi had done before on Akuma Island. Wasabi took left, right and all around, leaving Power Man to take his previous positions with the power of his immaculate strength. However, two rivers of microbots came charging toward them in opposite directions. The stream on the right crawled under a tile, lifting it against Wasabi, who reacted just as the left stream came to Power Man. Callaghan was using his hands to turn the two Negros into what he called "a kaffir sandwich".

"Squish the bastards!" Big Boy rooted for the microbots.

Just as he fired off his gun, Nova charged at Callaghan, but the masked man lowered himself by twenty feet. Blowing him off course, Nova looked back at Sandman, as both the Kabuki man, the Sandman and the portal were unstoppable and he wasn't about to take another dangerous risk. He flew back to Spider-Man, who had been dodging the deadly rain of lead from Flattop and B-B Eyes.

"Dance, motherfucker, dance!" Flattop screamed in fury.

Nova swooped in just as the nozzle of Flattop's Thompson gun was deadlocked on Spidey's nose. With open hands, he scooped up the wallcrawler and carried him bridal style behind the left wing of the building.

"Any bright ideas?" he asked.

All Spidey could say was, "I'm thinking about it…if he's made of sand, he would be weak to water. There are other alternatives though."

By now, Sora felt exhausted and he wanted to rest his progressively waning body, but the incoming pellets of lead only kept him in battle mode. Although the armor was just about as bulletproof as the others, he feared that breaking his continuous spinning and deflecting of his Keyblade would only put him in jeopardy of being shot dead. Donald and Goofy, having similar ideas, ran for cover behind a pillar that would not have made a very good trench. To their surprise, a cowering Lips Manlis was sharing a similar, yet fearful reaction to the knowledge of Donald being a mage.

"I don't think you're so tough," Donald quacked and he cast "_Sleepel_" on the pusillanimous mob boss who immediately limped his upper body upon contact with a silver wave of energy.

Using a turquoise mass of gelatin to break her fall, Honey Lemon jumped into the warzone with White Tiger following behind. She was close to the spherical prison holding Go Go inside like a gerbil and found herself face to face with Measles. Before he could fire a bullet into her mouth, Honey loaded her right hand with a red colored chemball and forced it onto his nose. The liquid spread to his mouth and eyes in a split second, so he couldn't even scream in pain from he assumed was acid burning his face away. When Callaghan had seen this, he gestured a spike of microbots at her, but she was quick enough to trap the blade in an orange goo that she threw the ground with the exact timing. White Tiger found her way to Crewy Lou, her right claw scuffing the mobstress' left leg, enough to weaken her as Tiger's left claw nicked a few strands of her crew-cut hairstyle and suffered a hard blow to her crown from both the Tiger's fists. Crewy fell to the floor hard, her right index finger still holding the trigger of the Winchester and when her body collapsed, the finger went through a spontaneous reflex, firing off a 12 gauge bullet between White Tiger's feet and towards Honey, who avoided the slug by charging at another microbot spike with a purple liquid that froze the spike in it's place…but not so much for the other one that broke through.

Seeing this, Honey had to hide. White Tiger joined her, sensing the approach of doom. In both hands, Honey held two cherry colored balls and threw them to the ground with her head hanging low and arms crossed over her breasts. The resulting effect produced smoke, covering the two women from head to toe in a makeshift fuchsia dome. The dome, made of rubber, was vulnerable and fragile for a microbot spike to poke the surface three times, and it was the fourth that gained the spike to break through in a sparkle of glass. Honey and Tiger ducked and dodged in fear, but they could not escape. At any moment now (as Hiro Hamada had been witnessing from above), the girls would have their guts skewered by the sharp force of a scientist filled with malice in the deepest, darkest area of his heart.

_Why didn't I think of building a jammer?!_ Hiro felt so much inferiority stemming from his pathetic IQ, that he wanted to smack his forehead repeatedly as he had done before when trying to enter the showcase. But with his right hand clinging to the cable and his left being forcefully pulled into the great magnetism of the portal, all he could do was remember how the showcase had gotten him into the plot of a criminal instigator which took approximately four months in the making. The voices of his friends through his built-in microphone started to echo in his head.

"He's too strong!"

"There's no way out!"

"HIRO!"

"Help! _HELP!_"

Then came another voice…his brother.

_There are no dead ends. Look for another angle._

A very brief cogitating followed, and Hiro completely understood that his brother's wisdom was finding its way into his own brain, increasing his IQ level at an accelerating rate. His eyes followed the direction of seven microbots (which Wasabi had already disabled) being sucked into the portal and it was that lucky number that gave Hiro an epiphany.

"That's it! I know how to beat him!"

He looked down, yelling as loud as he could.

"Listen up! Use those big brains of yours to find a way out! There are no dead ends! Look for a new angle!"

Everyone listened. Sora, now motivated and full of energy, transformed his Keyblade into dual guns. He spun clockwise, firing off rays of white light at the criminals that came his way. First Flattop, then B-B, Mumbles, Influence and Rhodent. The other hoods took off behind another pillar, with only Ribs, Texie, Johnny Ramm and Spaldoni, now equipped with a Webley Mk VI.

Wasabi and Power Man, who were the second and third members to respond, found enough energy to drive the microbot controlled tiles back into their proper places, if not find another way out in the words of his best friend and club leader. Using his right laser blade, Wasabi struck a hole in the roof, heading down head first with Power Man falling after him. Just as his head went into the building, the tiles closed on each other, creating nothing than two flat slices of bread. Wasabi laughed for joy once he landed inside, he even turned his lasers off when he gave Power Man a high five.

Honey Lemon and White Tiger, the fourth and fifth members to respond, each holding two orange colored chemballs with a smirk of courage on their lips. When a spike drove through her already cracked and prodded dome of plastic, she clapped her hands on the tip into a fruity flavored gelatin. White Tiger did the same and both girls were dragged free of the dome and back into the open daylight. Texie, Johnny and Ribs fired at them with every bullet available.

Fred and Iron Fist, the sixth and seventh persons to respond, were a mixed situation. Iron Fist tried to recover from his negative energy and Fred kept his eyes closed, not wanting in any way to see his own death by dismemberment.

"Oh God, my arms!" he yelled in serious pain. "I can't go any further!"

Then, realizing he had become the punchline of his own joke, he stopped and released his hands from the bars that operated the arms. He looked at his palms, smiling with satisfaction and relief.

"Wait a second, it's just a suit."

Through the mouthpiece of the suit above the flame thrower, he saw the two bent bars of the fallen texture plate. Iron Fist was just getting to his feet when Fred plastered his lips into a crazy smile.

"Hello, sign! Care to go for a little spin?"

And that was all he said. His left hand obtained the so-called "sign" and decapitated the top left microbot arm while spinning it and weakening the bottom half. He cried "Double spin!" as the hand, now back under the control of the suit's left arm. Iron Fist, fully re-energized, watched Fred truncating the right microbot limbs, then to the piles on the left and right, spinning the plate wildly. Spots, Pear-Shape, Coffyhead and Little Face sprung from the pillar and charged at the two with blasting bullets, but it was Fred's tornado like-"sign" that threw their guns out of circulation, nearly cutting off their hands as the guns fell and Iron Fist rammed his right knuckles at their chins like a torpedo, sending them to the floor.

Go Go, the eighth to respond, popped her bubble gum with a sense of contemplation, sticking on to the right side of her helmet and lowering the visor.

_If I'm going to be trapped like a gerbil, I might as well act like one._

And so she did, yet with her wheels instead of her hands and feet and her running wheel was made entirely of blocky microbots taking on a spherical formation. The faster she went, the more sparks were produced by the friction of the wheels that weakened a thin line of microbots until the prison was split in two when she reached about seventy miles per hour. Go Go jumped out of the bottom half while the top remained intact and fell lifelessly on the river of microbots that formed the prison in the first place. Landing on her left hand, she sensed danger in the form of Pruneface, Brow, Shoulders and Stooge, aiming their guns at her rear end. Go Go turned around, flinging both disks at Pruneface's forehead and the other three, failing to catch his fall, fell down like bowling pins.

"Nice work, Go Go," Sora thanked her from nearby.

"Don't mention it!" she replied.

He heard a shout from afar.

"_**BAYMAX!**_"

It was Hiro, still clinging to the titanium cable. He felt like his right hand was losing its muscle, and he watched helplessly as his and his brother's precious robot was being drowned by the "microbot river of death". More debris threatened to clip the rest of his armor off, scraping the purple paintwork and internal structure with a small collision that force Hiro's left shoulder upwards with a grunt.

Through his readout, Baymax found his struggling owner, but he was neck-deep in microbots that were just about as evil as his red chip. Salvation came in the form of Sora, who lifted his Keyblade to the sky.

"_Thundaga_!"

Twenty one bolts of strong lightning engulfed the bots, shorting out the circuits and liberating Baymax from his ensnared state of a final doom. Using his boosters to blow the microbots away into oblivion, Sora hopped onto Baymax's back and the robot took off to a high altitude. Hiro smiled, but all he saw was Tadashi in Baymax's armor, modified to fit his body, coming to his rescue like any older brother should in his younger sibling's time of need. Baymax and Sora flew past Hiro, soaring above him, and the boy genius released his grip, certain that the robot would catch him in the magnetic field. He curled himself into a ball, ready to accept his ultimate fate if Baymax did not catch him…yet out of nowhere, he did. He was holding on to the robot's chest, and Sora pulled his right hand up to Baymax's back.

Callaghan, spotting them his perch, was amazed yet angered at the same time.

"Ha! I _LOVE_ that robot!" Krei shouted with zeal. But, sadly, that crack would be his last.

"Shut the fuck up."

Without even making eye contact with the man that made his life a living hell, Callaghan aimed his Colt 1911 at Krei's forehead…and fired. The force of the blow caused Krei to suffer a whiplash, breaking his neck by four inches before _rigor mortis_ took over his body. Then, with his revenge seemingly complete, Callaghan pushed the fresh corpse into the circular building under the fin, which by now the first three stories had been completely desecrated. The arm of microbots held Krei's body against the "K" logo of his own company and a branch on the left side flipped the "K" section over, holding the corpse from his chest to his upper legs.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Krei," Big Boy delivered his lowest bow.

Spider-Man and Nova, who were still behind the left wing of the campus, had come up with the solution to defeat Sandman…besides water, that is.

"He's made of sand," the superhero formerly known as "the nerdy Peter Parker" simply said. "So he's made of silica. Nova, can you light him up to 2,000 degrees? All heat and no force?"

Nova felt himself glow, literally.

"It will be my pleasure."

He flew off, preparing to heat himself at the specific temperature as he did.

The others spotted Hiro, Sora and Baymax and followed them to the front of the campus. Baymax struck his right fist into the concrete, shattering it into five pieces.

"New plan!" Hiro announced as they ran to the recovered criminals. "Forget the mask! Take out the bots and they'll get sucked into the portal."

Wasabi gleamed with pride, activating his lasers as he shouted in Swahili. "_Now THAT is a plan!_"

"Honey, Fred, can you give us some cover?" Sora asked to the two members of the hero team on Baymax's left.

"Like you have to ask," Fred shrugged, bouncing along the way.

Honey whipped out a quartet of blueberry colored chemballs from her purse, clutching them to her neck.

"LETS DO THIS, _AMIGOS!_"

Honey threw the balls from both hands and Fred jumped after them. At an altitude of ten feet, Fred shouted "Snow freeze!" and his suit's flamethrower melted the balls into a dense fog that was picked up by the wind. The hoods, artillery at the ready, fired at them before the fog seemed to have clouded their minds into stupefaction (no pun intended). Callaghan, Big Boy and Breathless edged vainly away from the fog that rose to their altitude and covered them entirely.

In the attempt of gaining of better, Callaghan lifted his head up, gesturing Big Boy and Breathless above the clouds. Looking behind, Callaghan could see Sandman sucking up the fog, but it did not last for very long as Nova the Human Rocket was circling around him, concentrating the power of the Nova Force onto the tornado form. Specks turned into crystals, and before he could shout the ever used word of denial, Flint Marko had been crystalized into a silvery cylinder structure that might have been carved by a hundred craftsmen.

"That should do it."

He saw Hiro, Sora and Baymax just a few feet below him and rushed back to his fellow rookies. Breathless fired her pink Tommy gun madly at Hiro, understanding that if she could not have Tadashi, she could not have his brother as well (Hiro was currently too young for her as well). In addition, Big Boy fired off his own Colt 1911 and Callaghan raised his right hand, sending the microbots he had left directly at the trio. Five long spikes threatened to clip Baymax's wings, but the robot dodged them at the left, flying upwards as more spikes came. Hiro and Sora saw that they were heading directly at the portal, hoping to the suck up the arms into the ring.

"Ready?!" Hiro shouted as Baymax spun around the incoming arms.

"And…"

Baymax made a 120 degree turn upside down. His thrusters were nine feet away from the portal entrance.

"_DIVE_!"

With every thrust, boot and velocity of his rocket-powered feet, Baymax threw his right arm forwards into a fist and escaped all chances of having himself, his master and his friend from being sucked into a another dimension. The microbot arms were now forming into a tall spike, and it was perfectly crafted spike which was immediately decimated by Baymax's right fist and the microbots that held the spike together, ended up on the other side.

On the ground, facing Sketch, Laffy, 88, Shaky, the Blank and a hive of microbots, Wasabi and Power Man leaped over a fallen slab of concrete. Instead of landing on the ground like they supposed to, Newton's law of gravity had been broken and the two Afros were flying at an altitude of six feet. This lasted for three second before gravity kicked and the two were back on their legs.

"Gravity's getting a little weird here, guys," Wasabi announced to his teammates.

Spider-Man, having crawled his way down on the windows, fired a web line from his left web-shooter and struggled to break the bots off. Yet he was saved the trouble of exhausting his strength when Wasabi kicked his right foot against the window and used his lasers to slice the arm up. ON the ground, Power Man and Iron Fist punched both of their own fists into the hoards surrounding them as the criminals fired off their guns until they were completely out of bullets.

Go Go jumped into the fray from the unstable gravity. She plunged her disks into the arm closest to her and White Tiger flung her claws at the bottom of the arm in a very feral manner. The rims of Go Go's disks lit up a bright orange through the dark cloudy atmosphere as she drove them into another beam and sending the sliced bots into the air.

Unbeknownst to his trouble down below, Callaghan kept aiming longer arms of microbots towards Hiro and Baymax, who rammed his right fist through the second arm he had dodged and flung his way over Breathless and Big Boy.

Now carrying two plates of metal in both, Fred activated his flamethrower on the edges of each "sign" and they were now acting as torches with dual ends.

"Double sign spin! Now my signs are _**ON FIRE!**_"

He jumped, charging at four beams and splitting them with combined forces of the metal and the flames that chopped the weakened microbots into two pieces. Perhaps they weren't as fireproof as Hiro had built them.

Donald also shot fire, as well as ice and lightning from his mage's staff while Goofy carried Honey by he feet and pushed her to the closet beam of microbots she could find. She placed her purse under the top of the beam, ejecting a pink chemball from the miniature factory, and when gravity started to take its toll, she threw it from her right hand as far as she could. As much as she hated to destroy the very weapon and prized possession that gave her a valuable position on the team, she hate to make a sacrifice or two in the dire need of a situation. The moment it struck, the purse exploded into a fluorescent rainbow of brown, green, blue, orange, magenta and vermillion.

"Now that is a chemical reaction!" she smiled.

High above them, Callaghan and Big Boy threw more bullets and microbots at Hiro and Baymax, with Sora deflecting the attacks with his Keyblade. By now Breathless was out of ammo and so was Big Boy after firing his last bullet at Baymax's helmet when Callaghan thrusted his arms up to the three. Remembering his training from a week ago, Baymax executed the following moves as he spoke them (albeit non-literally).

"Back kick!"

His left foot struck a beam.

"Knife hand."

His right fist plunged into the left side of another beam.

"Roundhouse."

His right foot kicked off another beam.

"Hammerfist!"

His fist drove from the top of another beam all the way down to Callaghan. Unfortunately, even after so many sections of bots had found their way into the portal ring, Baymax's waist was wrapped in a strong section of microbots and to make matters worse, Callaghan was aiming his chrome plated Colt 1911 directly at Hiro's visor. The barrel was perfectly lined up to his forehead…just like Tadashi.

"Looks like it's poetic justice. Two Hamadas with the same gun."

Callaghan pulled the trigger down, but no shot was heard. He pulled the trigger two more times and again, there were no ear-splitting sounds of his gun going off. Hiro drooped his eyes at half-mast, resuming his cocky persona with the hidden sense of victory in his smile.

"Looks like you're out of bullets…and microbots."

The three villains looked down, they were standing precariously on six stilts of microbots with no swarm below other than the beams that wrapped around Baymax's waist. Speaking of which, Baymax burst his arms open and the bots shattered into a thousand pieces. They zoomed down to Callaghan's level, forcing Breathless and Big Boy to duck when the robot jerked to a halt, his right fist and the Kabuki mask were five inches apart from each other.

"Are you going to kill me the way I killed your brother?" Callaghan asked as if he were writing an invitation for somebody to kill him.

"Baymax's programming prevents him from injuring, maiming or killing a human being…" Hiro explained, not wiping off his face of victory. "But, we'll take…that."

Baymax opened his fisted hand, and the index and thumb fingers daintily lifted the mask off of Callaghan's face. With a crunch it broke into thirty pieces, and Callaghan felt weak. Big Boy and Breathless stared at each other before the latter spoke out in a meek voice.

"You don't happen to know what becomes of the microbots when the mask is…destroyed?"

"Not really," Big Boy replied.

Suddenly he felt his stilts lose its balance and Breathless felt her own stilts crumble down by an inch, breaking the fall with a dislocated joint at the bottom of the right stilt.

"Then why did I ask?"

Breathless shifted the tone of her voice to acerbity. Her hands fisted her hips and before she knew it, all three were caught into the gravitational pull of the portal, screaming all the way.

At last from the street down below, Detective Tracy and his cordon of squad cars came to the rescue. Big Boy's Caddy, whom Tracy immediately recognized, had its rear right tire fitted with a wheel clamp along with the other cars within the vicinity. Tracy then looked up and saw the microbot structure holding up the portal ring collapsing before the eyes of his fellow men and himself.

"Well, I'll be goddamned," he whispered.

Baymax swooped around in a sharp U-turn and caught the crooked trio in his arms. Callaghan felt relived, but the eyes of his two comrades remained shut. He watched his microbots fall in the form of raindrops, but it was the portal that struck the hardest to the ground. It created a shockwave of light and dark grey clouds that seasoned the remains of the new campus with dust, decay and debris. Baymax dropped Callaghan down to the floor on his face while Breathless and Big Boy rolled over, finding themselves in an odd position in each other's arms.

"You saved me!" Breathless embraced her boss in a rare opportunity of happiness and relief, and before Big Boy could react, he felt his mouth being smooched by Breathless' silky lips. It was a hard, air-sucking kiss that seemed to release ever last bit of their breaths into the atmosphere at the very moment the two looked at each other with odd expressions.

"Your mouth tastes like tobacco."

"And your mouth smells like perfume," Big Boy smiled with no hint of a sudden change of mood. "What do you wear?"

"Truth or Dare."

"I say it's a dare."

When Hiro landed, the dark cloud behind him revealed the gleaming white light of the portal, which seemed to be acting as a gateway to Heaven…a physical Heaven to which no one had seen before.

"Why is it still working?!" Hiro cried out in apprehension. He turned to Callaghan. "Is there any way to shut it down?!"

"It can't be stopped, it's portable. The containment field is failing…and in a few moments, it will tear itself apart."

Hiro looked out at Sora and his friends who were standing fourteen feet away from him. Then his eyes focused to the other criminals, until in the background he could make out a familiar flash of yellow. Hiro at first assumed that it was Go Go, but realizing the correct distance, the figure soon revealed to be Detective Tracy trying to find his way into the containment field.

"We need to get out of here now!"

Hiro's shout was loud enough to reach the ears of his teammates, and they, along with the criminals, Donald, Goofy and the rookies rushed over into the unsuspecting reach of the Crimestoppers. Catchem, Patton, Lizz and Brandon followed Tracy, spotting the colorful characters from their own distance. For his own safety, Junior stayed in the car and watched the climax from the left rear window. Once they were past Tracy, none of the criminals looked angry to see him, but in an odd sense of danger regarding the collapsing portal, they were relieved with great relish on their smiles.

"This has gone way too out of hand for my taste," said Flattop, stopping at a safe distance from the ring.

The others halted behind a fallen piece of structure that had become a trench wall and they watched the portal shake, rattle and groan. The structure grew volatile and exploded in less than a second. Hiro turned his robot and said.

"Glad we weren't in it."

Sora threw his Keyblade into the air, catching it with a stylized mimic of his ability to open gateways and locking the keyholes to other worlds. Honey, Go Go, Wasabi and Fred whooped and the girls held each other while the boys performed six variations of a high five. Donald and Goofy jumped for joy. Big Boy considered this moment to have been a perfect ending to the crime of the century, despite their initial loss and altercation of morale regarding Callaghan's actions.

"How did you know that Sand-boy here would become a glass figure?" Power Man asked Spider-Man, pointing his left thumb to the crystalized Flint Marko.

"When silica is super-heated, it makes glass. Sometimes it pays to be a science geek."

Underneath the left eye of his mask, Spider-Man winked and mentally congratulated his intelligence.

As the dust settled, Tracy surveyed the destruction. All that was left of the new headquarters was the first floor and glass, concrete, metal, infrastructure, microbots, and bullet shells had decorated the area. Out from the corner of his left eye, he could see the corpse of Alistair Krei, still hanging from the "K" logo. He looked over at the crew of criminals and found the perfect scapegoat in Big Boy Caprice, yet like any good detective the true culprit is mostly someone who you least suspect. His head shifted to Callaghan, and almost immediately, the former Lord Deathstrike broke down the damaging details of the fire, the microbots and most of all, his revenge against Krei. Now at last, after a month of declaring the investigation as a cold case, Detective Tracy finally had someone who could take the full blame for Tadashi Hamada's needless death in the SFIT showcase disaster.

"So…you decided to take the law into your own hands by murdering this poor man, is that right?"

"Yes," Callaghan lowered his head in shame. "But Mr. Tracy, she was twenty one years old! She was the only family I had left! I tried to look for justice, but the law, _your _law, let me down with nothing in return."

"Nothing in return from me is tantamount to not getting anything from a lawsuit for the loss of a loved one," Tracy said in a slightly furious tone. "You had no right to take the law into your own hands. You behaved like a savage anarchist, acting in league with a band of degenerates and some, supernatural force or other, I don't even know what that thing is."

He looked up at the glass statue of Sandman before returning his eyes, nose and mouth to Callaghan.

"Anyway, the courts, juries and executioners elect themselves for the role of justice. The rule of law is that if it falls, you pick it up and hold it even higher. After the deaths of so many innocents, including Tadashi Hamada, Alistair Krei and others, you have no sense to society at all and civilized people like myself will have nothing to shelter itself from if the law is to be destroyed."

"But it was the Bible that said let those without sin throw the first stone," Callaghan tried to score a point in his own defense.

"When you've been denied justice... you are incomplete. That you have been abandoned in a hell on Earth where you are the sole survivor of your own family. I thought that if I could make other people feel how I felt… they would understand me."

His voice was growing weak as Tracy furrowed his eyebrows to the breaking point.

"And were you successful despite your actions?"

"Yes," Callaghan muttered pathetically.

"You can tell the world that what Krei did was a travesty, but won't help you to testify in the courthouse because I'm locking you up. You're under arrest."

And he removed a pair of handcuffs from the right vest pocket of his lemon trench coat, dangling them with dead seriousness. Callaghan allowed Tracy to cuff his hands to his back, reminding Hiro of his own arrest in that same position. The scientist turned to Hiro, speaking wistfully in despair.

"Hiro…will you forgive me?"

The boy studied Callaghan's face. The emotions were genuine and his reply was a simple...

"Yes."

Two hours later, a team of paddy wagons, an ambulance, news vans and a few more police cars crowded the ruins of the Krei Tech campus and rescue teams scoured through the wreckage in search of the victims and other valuables worth salvaging. Those who were injured by the bullets or the debris could not move without assistance from the paramedics. As they did, a crowd of twenty five policemen jostled the nauseated Flattop and the rest of his companions into four separate vans for each gang, consisting of himself, Pruneface, Lips and Big Boy's original team flanked by Coffyhead, Laffy, Oodles and Pear-Shape. Trying to resist the irony of Big Boy's climaxing quote to the crime of the century, every member knew that had it not been for a plushy robot and some "meddling kids", they would have most likely succeeded.

One man to greet the newcomers was S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nicholas Fury Jr. and his second in command Agent Phil Coulson, who had tracked the rookies to San Fransokyo when they did not show up for winter training. He came down from the platform of his quinjet with a troupe of S.H.I.E.L.D. marshals and a handful of subpoenas for every member of the Apparatus. Everyone that is, except for Sandman, whose crystalized form was being broken down into smaller chunks that would be brought back to the Helicarrier for reconstruction as well as the future rehabilitation of Flint Marko himself.

"I am pleased with your efforts," Fury said to the rookies. "But not with your intentions of going AWOL."

"Sorry, Nick," Spidey apologized. "But we got spring fever. We had no idea about that island."

"Yeah," added Power Man. "That Sandman dude was messed up."

"Of course he was," Agent Coulson pulled up a file on Sandman from his tablet. He turned it over and presented a picture of the said criminal wearing an icy scowl. "Flint Marko was too dangerous to be kept in a normal prison, so parking him alone in the middle of a huge body of water, was our only option. He draws his power from contact with the ground and if he ever set foot on the mainland, it'd be catastrophic."

"Thank God we solved that problem," Nova finished.

"Yes, but I expect to see you in the Helicarrier for a full scrub down," said Fury. Then he turned to Hiro.

"Have you heard of the Avengers?"

"Yes…?"

"You and your teammates have been pretty handy especially with that robot of yours."

If he were a mere human, Baymax would have blushed.

"So, after saving your city, putting an army of criminals in the pokey _and _helping my rooks, what do you say?"

Hiro was unsure, his mind was back in the showcase hall, yet everything looked different from a certain point of view.

As before with the late Alistair Krei, Hiro knew what to say next. But this time, it was a rather genuine response, considering that the planet Earth already had a large number of superheroes and supervillains at the hand of fate.

"I appreciate the offer, Mr. Fury, but my place is here in San Fransokyo. However, if you still need us, you'll know where to find us."

Fury smiled, mentally frowning at his disobedient rookies. As they boarded, White Tiger going first followed by Power Man, Iron Fist and Nova. Spider-Man, the last to board before Fury and Coulson, turned back to Sora.

"If you know where to find me, I'll either be in Queens or some far-off world helping the Guardians of the Galaxy."

"I'll be the first to know," Sora responded.

Chief Brandon later announced that the investigations behind the actions of the Apparatus would begin the very next day at noon, and he wanted Big Boy, Breathless and Callaghan to be present in the courtroom. All three were handcuffed behind their backs and were currently being escorted by Tracy and Gerson to a nearby Toyota.

"As a consequence of your actions, Callaghan," Tracy said to him. "You might as well be getting death row in Alcatraz."

Big Boy sniggered quietly and hoped for a lighter sentence.

"And as for you, Big Boy, you'll get twenty years for this escapade. No appeals this time."

Big Boy's heart sank, but on the other hand, he felt like he was pissed at everything happening around him.

"20 years?! So what's the big deal? I can live twenty years, while you get your perfect wife, your perfect kid, your perfect job and you're probably gonna get more and more famous by the year when everyone finds out who those heroes are!"

By the time he was finished with his diatribe, Big Boy was sitting in the middle seat with Breathless on his right and Callaghan on his left. The blonde harlot faced her employer with a volatile expression and her voice dripped with an upset amount of satisfaction as she said.

"Well look on the bright side, Big Boy. At least I'll _finally _have something that _you_ never dreamed of having."

"What's that?"

"A hen-pecked husband."

She craned her neck as far as she could go and with the smoldering smooch of a loving wife, she left a red hickey of lipstick on his right cheek. Big Boy placed his right index and middle fingers on the mark, removed them and studied them with astonished emotions. His fingertips were drenched in Revlon red, looking as though he had pricked them with the spindle of a spinning wheel. His head returned to Breathless and his eyes flashed with the reactions of a man having spent his entire life through lifelong celibacy.

"Now wait just a minute! Don't you think of marrying _me _yet, Mahoney! _I AIN'T THE MARRYING TYPE OF GUY!_"

The door closed as he shouted the last word into her left ear. As Big Boy and Breathless proceeded to squabble and bicker over the outcome of their future lives, Callaghan looked out the window at the purple-pink sky. Dusk had fallen not only upon the city of San Fransokyo, but also on his life as a supervillain. Off they drove to the station, never to be seen in public again.

Of all the cars clustered around him, Tracy noticed a figure emerging from a red Plymouth. A woman to be exact. She was backlit by the red lights of the cars and sprinting towards him. It was Tess with her emerald green coat flapping at the level above her knees. He took a step towards her, then staggered as everything that transpired in the past few hours began to catch up with him. She caught him before he fell to his legs.

"What are you doing here, Tess?"

"I thought we could make up with this."

And she presented the muffin from the bag in her left hand. Tracy, tempted by this seemingly Faustian offer, took a quarter inch bite of the confection in his right hand. It seemed like his problems were solved the moment it had completely gone down his throat, feeling as if he had earned it after a month of investigations.

"Well, the new campus has been shot to hell," he said cheerfully. "But other than that, I'm perfectly fine."

Over Tess' left shoulder, Tracy could feel the propellers of the quinjet lifting off into the air. Even from where he was, he could see Hiro climbing on Baymax's back along with his friends. Sora threw the Kingdom Key into the air, activating the glider. Then with a whine of the engine, both parties took off into the sky before any members of the news crew could get a chance for an interview.

"Case closed," he whispered.

And he tilted his head back and let Tess kiss him fervently.

* * *

><p>The visceral details of the Apparatus' goal became more accurate following the investigations. At his trial, Big Boy's answers were short, vague, evasive and lacked substance. He claimed that the entire concept belonged to Callaghan, that he was eating in the club at the time of the fire and that he was only second-in-command behind the operation. The jury held him responsible for being the direct cause of the crisis, and as a result, Big Boy was to be detained for further questioning ten days later before the decision to place him in Alcatraz would be submitted. His last words before leaving the courtroom were "All I wanted was a world without normalcy".<p>

Breathless, while not as unhappy as Judge Garrity with her boss' performance, simply confessed in her testimony that she stole the microbot plans while nobody was looking before being corrected by Callaghan. She spoke of the location of the warehouse, how many items were stolen as well as the names of the victims and addresses of the attacks shared with her through word of mouth mentioning from the other criminals. While lacking the exact knowledge of the said names and addresses, she had proven her worth as an honorable participant of the crimes. With that, she was to have a comfortable cell in Alcatraz while performing songs for other prisoners in the noon and again at night before the lights were out.

Flattop admitted that he and his gang stole several plans from Callaghan and Tadashi's labs on the night of the showcase and that Breathless obtained the microbot plans from the professor in privacy. He knew all along that Callaghan would ask them to steal whatever parts he needed based on the said blueprints. Needless to say that, although the plans for the microbots were recovered from the Club Ritz's safe, the machines used to build them from the warehouse were dumped into the bay following Hiro's discovery.

Officer Gerson, on the other hand, apologized to Hiro for not believing him in the first place. Not only did he and Tracy share the credit for putting Callaghan and Big Boy behind bars, but their sudden increase of fame had offered Tracy to fill Brandon's position as chief of police. But Tracy, seeing it as nothing more than a desk job, did not want another issue with his family for being a workaholic. To mend his previous ties with the law, Hiro donated a new tape roller on Gerson's desk, using some of his previous winnings from the bot fights that were left over from his construction with the microbots.

On Labor Day, September 1st; San Fransokyo declared a day of mourning for the victims of the Apparatus, including Tadashi Hamada and Alistair Krei. Roughly five hundred people attended a memorial service at Grace Cathedral. As with some previous cases, those who could not find room inside, paid their respects outside. Prayers and thanks were offered to the mysterious heroes, who were hanging out by the park under their true identities. Other places were crowded with friends and relatives who had gathered to remember the callous actions of the criminals. At other Krei Tech establishments across the country, the company flag flew at half-staff for its fallen leader in the largest scale of mourning towards a true technological wizard since Steve Jobs.

Reporters and journalists flooded the newspaper offices with theories regarding the identities of the mysterious saviors. Wendy Wichell attributed her comparisons of the heroes with Dick Tracy to a deficiency in public appearances, while Christmas Early gave a lighter note, stating the heroes were none other than the Avengers, but she was met with denial when it was confirmed by Steve Rogers himself that he wasn't in San Fransokyo when the incident occurred. Author Jean Penfield thought of writing an article or even a book about the mysterious saviors once more information had been revealed. On the day after the portal incident, Ted Tellum sat in front of the camera in the Tribune building and announced the following words.

"A massive cleanup continues today at the headquarters of Krei Tech Industries. Reports are still flooding in about a group of unidentified individuals, who prevented what could have been a major catastrophe. Now, the whole city of San Fransokyo is asking: who are these heroes and where are they now?"

Shots from the air and ground cameras of the cleanup process were viewed on the wide television monitors of the Lucky Cat Café by several people, including Honey, Go Go, Sora, Wasabi, Goofy, Fred and Donald, who were waiting for Hiro. Hiro had been rewarded with a light blue hoodie, which had the SFIT logo stamped on its back. It had been given to him by Aunt Cass when she found out about the news and even though she was upset about Hiro lying to her about college, she had to confess that Hiro needed some time to be other people, even if they were a few years older than him like Tadashi's group. As they came to the table where the others waited, Hiro picked up his lunch, a casserole and a cherry flavored fruit juice with a rainbow sprinkled chocolate donut, he turned back and whispered "One last hug" to his doting aunt as he did just that.

Cass returned the hug, and before she knew it, her left hand was waving good bye to the nephew she had treated like the son she never really had. She smiled with complacency turned to Dick Tracy who had been sitting with Tess and Junior at the second table by the window, eating scrambled eggs and rice with milk.

"My boy's growing up," was all she said to the family of three.

Then when her face made eye contact with Junior, she suddenly remembered.

"Oh, that reminds me," her voice went back to its state of inanity. "I just talked with Hiro and he said that he and his friends would love to sleep over with you tonight?"

Junior beamed in the occasional manner of the energetic child that he was.

"Best day of my life," he muttered before gobbling down the last of his eggs.

His adoptive parents could not agree more than a simple kiss between the average normalcy of a loving husband and wife.

Professor Roloc Bard, the new head of the robotics division following Callaghan's arrest, was the first person to welcome Hiro outside the robotics lab. He was on his way with his friends, talking about the events of last week and the latest news from the school newspaper, laughing, reminiscing and even just plainly discussing it with a dull tone. Hiro looked sharp and professional while wearing his brother's cap and he was the spitting image of his dad (and his brother) even as some of the students commented on him as a "mini-Tadashi".

* * *

><p>Inside Tadashi's (now his) laboratory, Hiro placed the hat down on a grey desk lamp. At its base was the latest edition of the Mcmaster-Carr yellow pages, which was 4,000 pages long. Also on the desk were the recovered microbot plans and the other files stolen by Flattop's gang, but it did not matter to him anymore. Never again would he exploit them for evil, but was still going to rebuild a thousand of them for his future missions as a superhero. Hiro proceeded to observe and sort the files back into their proper places as shower of memories with him and Tadashi building inventions and robots together. One of them even resembled Mochi's rocket boots, which caused Hiro to nearly shed a tear of remorse that was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the office window. The door came open and it was Sora, craning his head in from behind who asked.<p>

"Hiro? You…want me to help you find something?"

Hiro looked down, recognizing Sora as he continued sorting out the recovered files.

"Oh, I was just looking at this stuff Tadashi left. _Nii-san _always was a rather conservative type."

He held out the blueprints of what looked like a prototype for Baymax.

"Here's one that had both of our names all over it. A cleaning robot for poor people."

Sora looked at the prints, he could see that the reason behind its failure was pure fantasy.

"Looks nice. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for all the help we've done…me, Donald and Goofy that is."

"Actually," Hiro said, putting the prints down. "_I_ should be the one thanking _you_. You did me a big favor by helping me with the mission. If Tadashi wanted to help people in trouble, like being captured by a villain, on the threshold of drowning or even people with terminal illnesses, I would do it with assistance…and you helped me solve the mystery of his death."

Sora smiled with pride. He almost wanted to cry, but he had to be content with this information.

"You're welcome, Hiro. Helping people in need, is also my _specialty_."

Hiro looked over Sora's left shoulder at the unfrosted windows of the lab. Honey, Go Go, Wasabi, Fred and Baymax were waiting for him. Sora looked back as well out of confusion, then finally understood.

"Well, a new day awaits for you. Go have some fun, Hiro."

Hiro shook Sora's left hand with his right.

"Thanks Sora. I guess it's been nice knowing you. Goodbye."

He walked past Sora and left for the door. The Keyblader watched his new friend disappear out of sight and looked out the round window, gazing his eyes into the brightest speck of sunlight the campus of SFIT had ever seen. In all of the city's history, it was the dawn of a new era for superheroes, criminals and outsiders alike.

* * *

><p>In his mansion, Fred Lee had his eyes completely glazed at the portrait of his parents and his ten year old for thirty minutes. He felt a commoner greeting a king, for his face bore anxiety and Heathcliff did not bother him all (he was too busy dusting the walls and mantle pieces for anything). Now it was 8:30 PM, he was taking in his parents' absence in the same manner as Tadashi's. After a total sixteen outings as a superhero in a Kaiju suit (most of them being petty crimes), he had the composition of the footballbasketball he dreamed of being before ending as a mascot…and his "workaholic" parents were hardly present in his lonely mansion where they could praise him, argue with him and even discuss plans for his future.

"Dad," he began after another thirteen seconds passed. "I just wish I could share my accomplishments with you. You mean so much to me and honestly…I think we know that. I have always felt a distance with you and Mom being on the family island and all that-"

He hovered his right hand on the plaque at the bottom of the frame, and something extraordinary began to unfold in front of his eyes. The wall had become a door that opened without a single creak, giving birth to a crack large enough for Fred to peak into. What he saw, made the bottom half of his face drop by three inches.

There was an oval shaped computer mounted inside the grey wall at the very end of the room, complete with a colorful looking console of buttons, switches and five smaller monitors. There was even a thin black swivel chair sitting in the middle of the console. It was a room such as he thought had not existed for seventy years; a room that belonged in a world of Apollo rocket ships, go-go bars, British rock groups, plastic furniture, hippies, Googie architecture, bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye, and batik fabrics of women's fashion by Paco Rabanne and the Watergate Scandal. Like something out of the last century. Every object in the room was colored in red, blue, yellow and silver. On the right side of the room was a jetpack, eight capsules of fuel cells, a sonar gun under a case of three metallic plungers, three harpoons under the gun, a shield and two red topped harpoons below it. On the left side were two suits, with grey, yellow eyed helmets with horns similar to the ones worn by Ant Man. Four pairs of red boots lay underneath an odd assortment of underwear, a total of eleven to precise. They had yellow waistbands with a red oval button, a blue body of superfine fabric that was plain on one side, and with two red circles on the other. Fred assumed that the side with the red spots were the side for the rear end of the human body and took this as a sexual innuendo.

He walked carefully, hands clasped and feet teetering as came into this inner sanctum of secrets. He stopped at the desk, finding a piece of double mercerized cotton, a pair lying on the table. Fred studied the underwear, holding them with both hands on the edges of his thumb and index fingers, when out of the blue came a deep reply.

"Fred," said the low voice. And then there was the hand coming out, the hand that held the briefcase, and the feet were walking down the small hall and Fred gasped again as the figure stepped out of the shadows—exposing an elderly man with ice tea colored sunglasses, black hair on the top, and white on the sides and his pencil moustache. He wore a royal blue jacket with matching trousers, a pink shirt and a ruby ascot. At last, Fred know who he was after mentioning the very word of "son".

"Dad…?"

Mr. Lee held the pair between his fingertips and gestured the following words with zeal and a wild smile.

"I wear them front, I wear them back…"

Fred followed along to the very end of the poem.

"I go inside out, then I go front and back."

Finally, after taking in the details of what seemed like an odd moment of disbelief, Fred cried out a splash of happiness.

"Dad!"

He wrapped his arms around his loving father. It was a warm, soothing hug that was even more comforting when Mr. Lee added:

"We have a lot to talk about."

But whatever they had to talk about, was kept secret…even to the public.

* * *

><p>On the first day of November, reconstruction on the showcase hall, which began immediately after the investigation, was completed. The new building was pretty much the same with a few additional safety and security features such as an advanced sprinkler system for large fires and security cameras for almost every wall from top to bottom. A crowd of two hundred and fifty people came to attend, including Chief Brandon on what would his penultimate appearance in public before his retirement speech.<p>

"As a long-awaited bonus, we have rounded up all of Big Boy's connections and associates. The Apparatus' rein of crime is over once again. Public safety in San Fransokyo is no longer a laughing matter with the help of our mysterious saviors."

Sora watched from afar next to a tree, he was close to overhearing Tess and Dick in a soft conversation.

"So, did Junior enjoy his sleepover last month?" Tracy asked.

"Yes," said Tess turning her head softly. Her mood suddenly changed, but it was positive one. "I think you're on."

She gave her husband a kiss, and Sora, reminded of his own parents and satisfied with his own concerns, left into the night. Tracy went up to the stage, stopping in between Brandon and Patton. His right hand pulled out a clean white note from his right vest pocket and his mouth had been lowered down to the microphone as he announced.

"We received a letter from the leader of the mysterious heroes this morning and this is what he wrote."

He unfolded the paper and read the text with the strong voice of a true American patriot.

"We did not set out to become superheroes in the first place, but sometimes life does not go the way you planned. The most positive outcome is that my brother Tadashi wanted to help people, whether it be a cat from a tree or the victim of a terminal illness…and that is we plan to do. If the forces of evil should rise again to strike the heart of humanity in this very city, be sure to call us if you get the chance. Who are we? We are…Big Hero 6."

"One question," asked Catchem. "How do we call them?"

"I suggest a hotline," added Patton.

From behind the buildings of the campus grounds, the shrill whines of a jet engine peeled through the trees and bushes with the blowing of the wind. The wind began to increase and it grew louder until it seemed a heat seeking missile from a terrorist organization would destroy all the hard work that had gone to waste. The object in question came closer, and when Lizz heard it, she followed the source and pointed her right index finger at the sky.

"Look!"

Everyone else turned, and sure enough, a streaking aircraft passed overhead. It was Baymax in his armor, carrying the members of Big Hero 6 on his back (at least Hiro, Honey and Go Go with Fred and Wasabi hanging from the arms like before). The crowd watched with wonder and clapped for their newfound heroes in this grand entrance of an air show. Several of them parted through different directions, fearing they would be run over by the robot flying at a low altitude of ten feet. Tracy could make out Hiro saluting his left hand to him and he returned the favor. Tess smiled at the precise time of her husband, Junior's flying robot was indeed real after all.

Sora walked through the lonely street on the other side, waiting for Donald and Goofy to return with the Gummi Ship. He looked up, spotting Baymax and his teammates flying high above them, followed by the Gummi Ship a minute later. The distant sounds of the crowd applauding were drowned out by the sounds of both engines, which overlapped with one another after the other left. When the starboard side of the Gummi Ship landed close to him, with only two inches above the ground, Sora squatted as far as his body could go and jumped right in the back seat.

"Hiro says his goodbyes," was all he heard from Goofy, but Sora felt comfortable. Not only would he be going home after three months in a city, but he was happy to know that he had helped another "random" person in his or her hour of need.

"I can only hope we'll see him and his friends again someday," Sora replied.

Before he knew it, Sora looked out of the window and saw the city buildings shrinking away. The ship was hovering up to a hundred feet, it stopped and flew onwards to the sky as the speed of the rocket accelerated up to five hundred miles per hour. High above the city they went, Sora looked back to take one final look and there from the corner of his eyes were Hiro, Baymax, Honey Lemon, Go Go Tomago, Wasabi No-Ginger and Fred Lee standing on a blimp that was as dark as the night sky with shades of midnight blue around the tail. Sora waved back, hoping that Hiro would see him. But it was he along with the other members of Big Hero 6 who raised their right arms into the air as far as they could reach and they did not stop to rest until they were out of each other's sights.

As the Gummi Ship faded into a distant star, Hiro felt a soft and gentle surge of emotion coursing through his body then quickly disappearing into thin air. His friends assumed that it was just the wind, but Hiro was pretty certain that it was the spirit of his brother Tadashi saying goodbye.


End file.
